E. Christopher Johnson, Jr., Associate Professor and Graduate Program Corporate Law and Finance Director

Biography

E. Christopher Johnson, Jr. Associate Professor and Director of the LL.M. in Corporate Law and Finance B.S. United States Military Academy at West Point 1973 J.D. cum laude New York Law School 1981 Contact by e-mail

E. Christopher Johnson Jr. attributes his success to a strong Christian faith, instilled in him by his parents, together with the spirit of community service consistent with Jesus' words "to whom much was given, of him much will be required." He credits his two beautiful wives, Sheryl, whose life was claimed by breast cancer in 2000, and his current wife Rhonda, who now graces his heart, as the foundations of his life.  In addition, his daughter Erin, an attorney in DC, and son, Chip an advertising media buyer in New York, have and continue to make him a very proud father.

Following his graduation from West Point in 1973, Johnson served as an Army officer in Alaska and New Jersey and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service.  After his honorable discharge from the Army in 1978, he attended New York Law School from which he graduated with Honors in 1981.

His legal career started as an associate at a Wall Street law firm.  In 1985, he left the practice of law to become a headhunter.  It was with his last client, General Motors, that he made his last placement—himself—as an attorney in 1988. Accepting the role as GM’s attorney handling computer law matters, he rose through the ranks as that fledgling practice flourished, to Practice Area Manager, Assistant General Counsel and ultimately, Vice President and General Counsel of GM North America, a position he held for the last seven years in a twenty year GM Career.

While at GM, Johnson championed a number of initiatives in the access to justice, access to law school and diversity arenas. His commitment in those areas led him to Thomas Cooley Law School, which shares this commitment, and where he currently is a law professor and director/founder of the LL.M. program in Corporate Law and Finance. He is actively involved in Cooley’s high school and college pipeline programs, and its mission of access to law school.  He also is the chair of City Mission, a Detroit elementary school and K-12 tutoring/mentoring program.

His service over the years mirrors these passions and has included service as a co-chair of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation, trustee of the Michigan Bar Foundation, co-chair of the Legacy Justice Campaign for Detroit Legal Aid and Defender, chair of the ABA Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline, member, Council of Legal Education Opportunity, chair of the ABA Africa, and co-chair, West Point Leadership and Ethics Conference.

He is the recipient of many awards for this service including the ABA Spirit of Excellence Corporate Award, the National Bar Association Clyde Bailey Award for Corporate Leadership, the State Bar of Michigan Michael Franck and Champion of Justice Awards, and the Straker Bar Trailblazer Award. He was also inducted into the National Black Law Students Association Hall of Fame.

He is active in the community, serving as an elder at NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Michigan, chair of the Michigan United Negro College Fund Leadership and a member of the Board of the Great Lakes Division of the American Cancer Society.

Following a mission trip to Mumbai, India last year, where Johnson was exposed to the ravages and enormity of human slavery and trafficking, he felt called to join the human trafficking movement. He currently serves as co-chair of the Community Committee of the State of Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force and works with a number of governmental and non-governmental entities on this crisis.

Bibliography

• Articles
• Book Reviews and Other Short Works

Articles

John Nussbaumer & Chris Johnson, The Door to Law School, 6 U. Mass. Roundtable Symp. L.J. 1 (2011).

Book Reviews and Other Short Works

E. Christopher Johnson, Jr., Pipeline Programs: Increasing Diversity and Creating Responsible Citizens and Leaders, 91 Mich. B.J. 32 (Jan. 2012).

Cassandra Sneed Ogden & E. Christopher Johnson, Jr., The ABA Bar Passage Standard, One Year Later: Where Are We Now, and Where Do We Go from Here? 11 Diversity & the Bar (May-June 2009).

E. Christopher Johnson, Jr., Diversity Accountability at GM, 7 Goal IX News (No. 3, Summer 2001).