Joshua S. Johnson
2200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Suite 500 West
Washington, D.C. 20037
Josh is an appellate litigator. His practice involves a wide range of civil and criminal matters in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts, as well as matters in federal trial courts and regulatory and legal counseling.
In addition to his work at the firm, Josh has significant experience working in the federal government. Most recently, he served as an Assistant General Counsel (a managerial position) within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Law & Policy. In that position, he advised Bureau leadership on issues of administrative law and federal consumer financial law, with a particular focus on legal issues related to credit reporting and consumer privacy. Earlier in his career, Josh served in the Appellate Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, where he participated in briefing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and argued cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeals.
Josh served as a law clerk at all three levels of the federal court system. He clerked for Judge Nancy Gertner (District of Massachusetts, 2009–2010), Judge David S. Tatel (D.C. Circuit, 2010–2011), and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (U.S. Supreme Court, 2012–2013).
Josh has also served as an instructor for the University of Virginia School of Law’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.
Experience Highlights
(U.S.) – Briefed and argued case involving the copyrightability of annotations to a state’s official code
(11th Cir.) — Secured affirmance of summary judgment in favor of airline client in putative antitrust class action alleging price-fixing of checked baggage fees
(D.C. Cir.) – Successfully defended award of summary judgment to government contractor in False Claims Act suit
(Fed. Cir.) – Successfully defended judgment favoring government contractor in bid protest
(6th Cir.) – Briefed and argued challenge to a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration enforcement order against a pipeline operator
(1st Cir.); (D.Mass.) – Secured and successfully defended on appeal district court order holding that Natural Gas Act preempted the application of a municipal ordinance to a federally approved natural gas pipeline compressor station
(1st Cir.) – Successfully defended air permit for natural gas pipeline compressor station against numerous Clean Air Act and state-law challenges; successfully argued against vacatur of permit on one issue where Court concluded additional analysis by state agency was needed, and then successfully defended agency’s reaffirmance of air permit in subsequent post-remand appeal
(2d Cir.) – Drafted briefs in appeal from a criminal conviction in a case involving an alleged violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, among other charges
(U.S.); (5th Cir.); (W.D. Tex.) – Obtained summary judgment defending the State Bar of Texas against a First Amendment mandatory bar challenge; on appeal, the Fifth Circuit vacated and granted partial summary judgment and a preliminary injunction to the three plaintiffs, but upheld the vast majority of the Bar’s challenged initiatives as constitutional; the U.S. Supreme Court denied our opponents’ cert petition
(Va.) — Drafted and presented oral argument in support of a petition for appeal in a government-contracting dispute involving numerous claims, including defamation and misappropriation of trade secrets
(D.C. Cir.) – Successfully defended the EPA’s decision not to promulgate financial-responsibility regulations for the hardrock mining industry under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(Fed. Cir.) – Won vacatur of Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals’ decision rejecting government contractor’s claims of breach of implied duty of good faith and fair dealing and constructive change
(D.C. Cir.) — Participated in two successful mandamus proceedings challenging district court orders compelling disclosure of privileged documents created in connection with a corporate internal investigation
(2d Cir.) — Won reversal of $35 million antitrust judgment, successfully arguing that client’s alleged tortious conduct in connection with settlement of patent infringement litigation had not harmed competition
(4th Cir.) — Secured affirmance of dismissal of False Claims Act suit
(5th Cir.) — Drafted an amicus brief supporting challengers of an order certifying a RICO class action
(9th Cir.) — Petitioned the Ninth Circuit for review of the EPA’s partial disapproval of Arizona’s regional-haze state implementation plan
(5th Cir.) — Petitioned for review of Board of Immigration Appeals orders
Credentials
- Yale Law School, J.D., 2009 (Senior Editor, The Yale Law Journal)
- Yale University, B.A., Ethics, Politics, & Economics summa cum laude, 2006 (Phi Beta Kappa)
- Office of Law & Policy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Washington, D.C., Assistant General Counsel & Senior Counsel, 2022–2025
- Law clerk to Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, United States Supreme Court, 2012–2013
- Criminal Division, Appellate Section, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., Attorney, 2011–2012
- Law clerk to The Honorable David S. Tatel, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2010–2011
- Law clerk to The Honorable Nancy Gertner, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 2009–2010
- The National Law Journal, D.C. Rising Star, 2020
- Legal 500 U.S., Dispute Resolution: Appellate, 2020 and 2021
- Selected to the Washington, D.C. Rising Stars list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2016, 2017, 2019
- Work recognized in Law360 feature, “Top Gov’t Contracts Cases of 2017: Mid-Year Report”, July 2017
- Recipient: American Gateways’ Access to Justice Award, 2014
- Former Instructor: University of Virginia School of Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic
- Member: Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court
- District of Columbia
- Texas
- Virginia
- Press ReleaseJune 2, 2025