Maureen Johnson

Expertise:

Applied Legal Storytelling, Rhetoric, Persuasion, Advocacy, and Supreme Court Process

Background:

Professor Maureen Johnson joins UCI as a visiting professor after teaching at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where she taught legal writing and research, appellate drafting, and negotiation. She previously visited at William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, then ranked by U.S. News as the top legal writing department in the nation. She began her teaching career at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, which also routinely was ranked as a top-tier legal writing department. As a complement to her teaching, Professor Johnson has authored five published law review articles. The bulk of her scholarship focuses on the intersection of social and legal rhetoric, with an emphasis on civil rights and antiracism.

Prior to teaching, Professor Johnson amassed substantial litigation experience, including working for six years at two worldwide law firms, Mayer Brown and Kaye Scholer LLP. She also worked at a boutique Beverly Hills plaintiff-side law firm where she focused almost exclusively on appellate work and major law and motion practice. One of the appeals she drafted and argued—Global Hawk v. Le—was favorably resolved and certified for publication by the First District of the California Court of Appeal.

Having earned a Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting from the University of California at Los Angeles, Professor Johnson has a particular interest in storytelling in the legal profession, with a particular emphasis on transformative social change. While at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Professor Johnson launched #EQ4ALL@LLS, a diversity webpage that profiled individuals committed to equality and equity for all. She strives to teach students how to compellingly portray the humanity in every individual.