Faculty/Staff ProfileTitle

Areas of Expertise
Reproductive Rights and Justice
Gender Law
Family Law
Feminist Legal Theory
Clinical Legal Education

Biography
Johnson joined the faculty in 2006. Johnson’s current research examines legal issues of reproductive justice. She asks questions about how women and other pregnancy-capable individuals are subject to structural and intersectional forms of oppression.

Johnson explored comparative menstruation law and policy as a 2023 Fulbright Scholar at UTS in Sydney, Australia. Her current research examines reproductive freedom, criminalization of pregnant people, and state constitutional law. In addition, Johnson’s research addresses the use of narrative theory, critical reflection, and normative theory in lawyering for clients. Johnson’s articles have been published in the Wisconsin Law Review, U.C. Davis Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, and the B.Y.U. Law Review, among others. She is co-author of the book Lawyers, Clients & Narrative: A Framework for Law Students and Practitioners (2d ed. 2023). Her research has been relied upon and cited by courts, media, and other scholars.

Johnson has been a Visiting Professor at NYU Law, Georgetown University Law School, and American University Washington College of Law. Prior to joining the UBalt faculty, Johnson directed the Domestic Violence Clinic at the Washington College of Law, American University; was an employment discrimination litigator, with a special focus on sexual harassment law, at the D.C. firms of Terris, Pravlik & Wagner, Kalijarvi, Chuzi & Newman and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights; was a Georgetown Women's Law and Public Policy Fellow; and clerked for the Hon. Hector M. Laffitte in the United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico.

Johnson also directs the Bronfein Family Law Clinic, where students represent clients in litigation and advocacy relating to family law and reproductive rights and justice. She also is co-director of the Center on Applied Feminism, which applies the insights of feminist legal theory to legal practice and policy.

Johnson is a frequent speaker, commentator and advocate regarding reproductive and menstrual justice legislation, regulations, and policies. She has served as an expert, advisor, or board member for numerous feminist organizations, including the Global Menstrual Justice Report, Our Bodies Ourselves Today, the Feminist Judgments book series, and the Women’s Law Center of Maryland. She also has held several leadership roles in the clinical legal education community including Editor for the Clinical Law Review, Co-President of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA), and Chair of the Planning Committee, American Association of Law Schools Section on Clinical Legal Education Conference.

Johnson has received several awards and recognitions, including the 2024 Women’s Law Center of Maryland’s Rosalyn B. Bell Award, 2020 UBalt Law Outstanding Scholarship award; the 2019 UBalt Law Outstanding Service by a Full-Time Faculty Member award; the 2017 UBalt Law Outstanding Teaching by a Full-Time Faculty Member award; Top 25 Women Professors in Maryland in 2013; the 2012 USM Board of Regents' Faculty Award for Public Service; and Professor of the Year award by the UBalt Women's Bar Association in 2011 and 2008. Johnson is a member of the bars of the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia.