Charles S. Johnson: Profile

Charles S. Johnson, a seasoned trial lawyer, currently practices in the areas of health law, higher education law, dispute resolution, and public policy.

Following his graduation from Boston College Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review and a recipient of the Law School’s O’Keefe Award,  Mr. Johnson began his legal career as an antitrust lawyer.  His antitrust practice has included service as principal Georgia antitrust counsel for a major automobile manufacturer and as coordinating antitrust counsel for a national insurance rating organization.  He also served as Adjunct Professor of Antitrust Law at the University of Georgia.  His litigation practice eventually expanded to include health policy litigation, education policy litigation, tax litigation, employment litigation, securities litigation, civil RICO and qui tam litigation, eminent domain litigation, zoning litigation, and litigation of commercial disputes. He currently serves as a member of the Commercial Dispute Resolution Panel for the American Arbitration Association.

Mr. Johnson’s public policy practice has included counseling, regulatory and legislative advocacy, and litigation.  He participated in the creation of Zoo Atlanta, the Countywide Library System for Fulton County, and Georgia’s first tax allocation districts.  He advised Morehouse College in securing the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection.  He has litigated questions related to the regulatory authority of Georgia’s Commissioner of Insurance and the Georgia Department of Community Health, the taxing power of local school districts, and the enforcement of the Clean Air Act.  His litigated cases have made it possible to vigorously enforce the federal Fair Housing Act, and they have also made it possible for the courts to consider quality of education when fashioning a remedy for school segregation.

Mr. Johnson is Chair of the Board of the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, President of the Southern Regional Council, Co-Convenor of Advocacy for Action, Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia, Co-Convenor of Advocacy for Action, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Bard College (his Alma Mater). He previously chaired the Board of Trustees of Leadership Atlanta, the ABA Committee on Insurance Regulation, the Atlanta Judicial Commission, the Atlanta Urban League, the Atlanta Exchange and the Atlanta Region Open Housing Coalition.  He also served as President of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and the Gate City Bar Association.  He formerly served as Vice President of the National Bar Association and as a member of the Board of the Atlanta Bar Association, the Theatrical Outfit, the Atlanta Branch NAACP, the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers, the Atlanta Business League, the Metropolitan Atlanta Red Cross, the Alliance Theater/Alliance Children's Theater, Jomandi Productions, the Southern Christian Home for Children, Techwood Park, Inc., and the Young Democrats of Georgia. 

Mr. Johnson has been named as one of Ten Outstanding Young People in Atlanta and one of the Best Lawyers in America.  Atlanta Magazine has recognized him as one of Atlanta's “Powers to Be” and one of Georgia’s Super Lawyers, and the King Center has recognized him with its Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace and Justice Award.  He has been inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame and the Gate City Bar Association Hall of Fame. He is a recipient of the Randolph Thrower Lifetime Achievement from the State Bar of Georgia Committee to Promote Inclusion in the Profession, and the Zenith Award for Political Action from the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.