Michele D. Johnson is one of the nation’s leading trial lawyers as chair of the Litigation Department at the globally prestigious law firm of Latham & Watkins. Her super achiever character blossomed while attending Mesa Community College and continuing on to ASU and the Georgetown University Law Center. She has been recognized among the Top 100 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal and named a Securities MVP nationally by Law360. Benchmark Litigation honored her as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer, the California Securities Litigator of the Year, and a Top 20 Trial Lawyer in California. Michele was honored among California’s Top Women Lawyers by the Daily Journal, was profiled in The American Lawyer for her role as Global Chair and as part of Latham’s broad team of elite first-chair trial attorneys, and was named a Winning Litigator by The National Law Journal. Michele received the California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award by the Daily Journal for her pro bono work.

She serves on the boards of the Georgetown University Law Center, Berkeley Center for Law and Business, Orange County Bar Foundation’s Project Youth, the American Bar Association’s Corporate Laws Committee, and the emeritus board of the Public Law Center. Michele received the Anti-Defamation League of Orange County’s Jurisprudence Award. Advocating for the homeless earned her recognition as a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year. These are only a few of her local, national and international awards, recognitions, and accomplishments. Additionally, blazing the keyboards for the all-Latham rock band “Diversion,” Michele has helped raise $150,000+ for Foster Care Counts as well as more than $300,000 for many other charities.