A 2001 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Johan has litigated and tried complex civil cases for over two decades, personally handling dozens of trials in state and federal courts and arguing before numerous federal and state appellate courts. Most recently, he served as lead appellate counsel in the matters of Jefferson County v. Williams, et al., 146 F.4th 658 (8th Cir. 2025), and City of Martinsville, Virginia v. Express Scripts, Inc., et al., Record No. 24-1912, 2025 WL 1039624 (4th Cir. Apr. 8, 2025), both of which resulted in important wins for CWC municipal clients.

Best Lawyers™ has recognized Johan in the area of litigation/antitrust for a number of years (2020 – 2026), and Virginia Business magazine profiled him in 2018 as one of Virginia's leading appellate lawyers (as determined by a statewide vote of Virginia lawyers). Johan’s trial list illustrates the breadth of his experience. His jury trials have included disputes among NFL player agents, cardiology medical group partners, and financial advisory firm owners, as well as cases where he represented film production companies, real estate developers and energy industry brokerage firms. His bench trial work has likewise spanned a wide range of disputes, including both representing municipalities in Section 1983 cases and
arguing complex tax cases on behalf of owners of electric power generating facilities and automated container ports.

Outside the courtroom, Johan served as a chapter president for the Federal Bar Association and a term on the editorial board of The Federal Lawyer, the national magazine of the FBA. He is the co-author of the chapter "Appeals to the United States Court of Appeals" in the treatise Appellate Practice - Virginia and Federal Courts (Virginia CLE 2016). Johan also spent a number of years on the faculty of the professionalism committee of the Virginia State Bar, speaking and teaching at the VSB's mandatory professionalism seminar for new admittees and the VSB's introduction to professionalism course presented to students at Virginia law schools.

Johan has handled a number of pro bono cases throughout his career, including a Section 1983 dispute that resulted in his first federal court jury trial, and another matter that led to him arguing first amendment issues before legendary United States Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Those experiences together inspired his article, “For Hands-On Experience in Federal Court, Young Lawyers Should Do Pro Bono Work” (The Federal Lawyer, Mar. 2012).

Since 2018, Johan has spent the vast majority of his practice leveraging his years of experience to effectively represent municipalities that are engaged in active litigation concerning the opioid epidemic and representing states in multi-district litigation (MDL) involving insulin pricing. These cases have included a number of defendants in the pharmaceutical industry, such as drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies (national chain and mail-order), and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). During the same time frame, Johan has also served as outside litigation counsel to a public hospital authority on a number of different matters.

While in law school at the University of Virginia School of Law, Johan served on both the editorial and managing boards of the Virginia Law Review. Upon graduating from Virginia Law, Johan clerked with the Hon. B. Waugh Crigler in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Charlottesville Division, before entering private practice full time.

Education

• University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 2001
• Liberty University, B.A., 1994

Admissions

• Virginia State Bar
• Kansas State Bar
• United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
• United States District Court for Kansas
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Supreme Court of the United States

Publications

• "Appeals to the United States Court of Appeals," Appellate Practice - Virginia and Federal Courts (Virginia CLE 2016)
• For Hands-On Experience in Federal Court, Young Lawyers Should Do Pro Bono Work, The Federal Lawyer (March 2012)
• The Young Lawyer's Dilemma, The Federal Lawyer (July 2009)
• The Young Lawyer’s Dilemma Part 2: Gaining Perspective, The Federal Lawyer (May 2010)
• Venue in Virginia: Putting the “Where” in Wherefore, VBA Journal, Winter 2003
• “Linking Public Websites to the Public Forum,” 87 Virginia Law Review 1007, Sept. 2001