Lauren K. Johnson has 19 years of experience defending clients in criminal and juvenile cases. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyer Rising Star and Top Women Lawyer in Southern California by Los Angeles Magazine. She has represented thousands of clients, and has both zealously defended and exonerated many clients in complex and high-stakes cases in Southern California. Her advocacy, experience, and passion to protect her client’s rights has earned her an outstanding reputation amongst her peers, prosecutors, and Judges.
Lauren is well-known for her aggressive defense of criminal, juvenile, and CPS cases, earning her a reputation as the “go to” parents’ lawyer in Orange County. She is a Certified Parent Educator (UCLA) and uses her education to counsel her clients to make positive changes in their lives and to get through difficult times. She is not only a fierce litigator and persuasive advocate who gets outstanding result, she practices law with empathy and compassion for her clients.
Lauren is the Past-President of the South Orange County Bar Association, an association of lawyers whose clients are in South Orange County. She is also active in the Orange County Bar Association and several criminal defense bar associations in California and nation-wide. Ms. Johnson is also a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer College, where she received training by the nation’s greatest trial lawyers.
In 2012, Lauren wrote the winning appeal in the landmark juvenile medical marijuana case In re Drake M. (2012) 211 Cal.App.4th 754. In 2011, Ms. Johnson was awarded the Paul Bell Fellowship through Appellate Defenders, Inc. for her work championing the rights of parents in Juvenile Dependency Appeals. She has handled nearly 400 cases on appeal.
Upon graduation from Law School, Lauren was awarded the Archie A. Gorfinkle Award For The Most Promising Graduate Entering The Field Of Criminal Law from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Lauren K Johnson has volunteered to judge mock trial at UCI Law School and presented a mock argument to the incoming 1L class.
Lauren is a Southern California native and serves as an Irvine City Commissioner with the City of Irvine.
Education
J.D., Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 2003
Awarded Archie A. Gorfinkle Award for Most Outstanding Graduate Entering the Field of Criminal Defense.B.A. Sociology, Pitzer College
Gerry Spence’s Western Trial Advocacy Institute, 2007
Jurisdictions Admitted to PracticeCalifornia, 2003
District of Columbia, 2009
Professional & Bar Association Memberships
- Orange County Bar Association
- National Legal Aid and Defender Association
- California Appellate Defense Counsel
- California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
- Orange County Women Lawyers Association
- Orange County Jewish Bar Association
- Appellate Defenders, Inc.
- California Appellate Project, Inc.
- Central California Appellate Program
Contact info:
(949) 622-5522
ljohnson@californiacriminaldefender.com