Peter James Johnson, Jr., is President of Leahey & Johnson, P.C., where he has
earned a reputation for excellence as a trial lawyer, appellate lawyer, and litigator
in complex litigation, products liability, professional liability, insurance law, and
commercial and corporate litigation. He has litigated numerous high-profile,
high-exposure case involving serious personal injury and substantial property
damage. He is well-known for his ability to take over matters when other law firms
falter, especially in high-exposure venues. Mr. Johnson served as a lead counsel
in the case of the Happy Land social club fire case in Bronx County, New York,
in which 87 people were killed, and he successfully represented major defendants
in recent landmark cases involving industry-wide liability. His efforts and experience
as an attorney have earned him Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating—“AV.”

Mr. Johnson serves as Chairman of the Appellate Division’s First Department
Committee on Character and Fitness and as a member of the Governor’s Judicial
Screening Panel for the appointment of Supreme Court and Appellate Division
Justices. He was the designee of the First and Second Department Appellate Divisions
to the New York City Board of Corrections, sat on a panel that certifies the qualifications
of judicial hearing officers, and was appointed by Chief Administrative Judge Lippman
to the First Judicial District Task Force on Reducing Litigation Costs and Delay. In the
wake of the 2000 presidential election, he was appointed by the governor to chair the
New York State Task Force on Election Modernization, which was widely praised for
its reform recommendations.

Admitted to practice law in the states of New York and New Jersey and in federal courts
in New York, New Jersey, and other jurisdictions, Mr. Johnson is a member of the
Association of the Bar of the City of New York, having served on its committee responsible
for passing on the qualifications of applicants for the judiciary in New York State and
the federal courts. He is a member of the New York County Lawyers Association, the
American Bar Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association, and the Defense
Research Institute and has published scholarly articles on tort and insurance topics
in the New York State Bar Association Journal and the Commercial Damages Reporter.

Since 1999 Mr. Johnson has appeared regularly as an on-air Legal Analyst for the Fox
News Channel, and he is known as a commentator on the law. He has lectured at the
Practicing Law Institute, Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and Columbia
University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he was a Senior Research
Fellow and has participated in international and national conferences on law and
urban policy. He was also a member of a panel that helps select White House Fellows.

Mr. Johnson served as a Press Officer to the Governor of the State of New York and
as Senior Vice President of the New York State Urban Development Corporation, where
he worked on the redevelopment of Times Square among other projects. As Senior Advisor,
pro bono, to the Mayor of the New York City, he helped create and develop municipal
policies on criminal justice and economic development. He has written and lecture
extensively on governmental issues as well as the law.

Mr. Johnson is a Governor of the Jewish Lawyers Guild, a Knight of Malta, and a member
of the Board of Directors of the Fire Museum of the City of New York. He is an Honorary
Deputy Chief of the New York Fire Department and a former Director and honoree of
the Catholic Interracial Council.

He is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Law (1987) and
Columbia College (1982).

 

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