California Trial Guide

The Honorable Earl Johnson, Jr., has been a Justice of the California Court of Appeal in the Second Appellate District for a quarter century and is the creator of the "TRIAL GUIDE" concept. Justice Johnson is a former trial attorney who conceived the major TRIAL GUIDE innovations while a Professor of Law teaching evidence and supervising the clinical programs at the University of Southern California Law Center. He is the principal author of the California Trial Guide for use in civil trials. In addition to the Trial Guide series, Justice Johnson has authored or co-authored five books and 40 articles.

Justice Johnson received the first "Loren Miller Legal Services Award" from the California State Bar in 1977. In 1989, the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association named him "Appellate Justice of the Year," in 1991, the California Trial Lawyers Association gave him its "Outstanding Judicial Achievements Award," In 2003 the Consumer Attorneys of California named him the state's "Appellate Judge of the Year", in 2004, the Daily Journal named him one of the "Top 100 Lawyers in California" and that year he also received the "Aranda Access to Justice Award" from the Judicial Council, the California State Bar, and the California Judges Association. In 2006 the Los Angeles County Law Library gave him its "Beacon of Justice" award and in 2007 he was named the county's "Outstanding Jurist" by the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Board of Trustees for his "significant contributions from the bench through his or her judicial ability and experience; judicial temperament and demeanor; knowledge of the law; contribution to the improvement or education of the legal community; contribution to the practice of law and the community at large; and education and diligence."

Justice Johnson has authored a number of important opinions in the family law field, including In re Marriage of Gagne (1990) 225 Cal. App. 3d 277, 274 Cal. Rptr. 750; In re Marriage of Aninger (1990) 220 Cal. App. 3d 230, 269 Cal. Rptr. 388; In re Marriage of Gonzalez (1989) 207 Cal. App. 3d 1198, 255 Cal. Rptr. 336; In re Marriage of Norton(1988) 206 Cal. App. 3d 53, 253 Cal. Rptr. 354; In re Marriage of Frick (1986) 181 Cal. App. 3d 997, 226 Cal. Rptr. 766; In re Marriage of Garrity & Bishton (1986) 181 Cal. App. 3d 675, 226 Cal. Rptr. 485; In re Marriage of Williams (1984) 155 Cal. App. 3d 57, 202 Cal. Rptr. 10; and In re Cheryl H. (1984) 153 Cal. Rptr. 1098, 200 Cal. Rptr. 789.

Justice Johnson was educated in Chicago and became a member of the Illinois Bar in 1960. He received his B.A. with honors in economics from Northwestern University (1955). After three years as a naval officer, he earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law (1960), where he was an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. He then became a Ford Foundation Fellow in Criminal Law and received his L.L.M. from Northwestern University (1961). In addition to Illinois, he is a member of the bars of California, the District of Columbia, and the United States Supreme Court. He served as a federal prosecutor with the Organized Crime Section of the Department of Justice and as a Director of the Legal Services Program of the Office of Economic Opportunity before joining the faculty at the University of Southern California.