Javionté Johnson is an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Eastern District of Virginia and an Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School. He is originally from Richmond, VA and moved to New York to study law. Javionté decided to become a public defender at an early age. This decision was inspired, in large part, by where and how he grew up. Eventually, he came to the realization that this legal system does not treat everyone equally under the law and disproportionately incarcerates African Americans. Since then, he has dedicated his career to serving those in underrepresented and over-policed communities.
Javionté also works as a private Bar Coach for students prepping to take the Bar Exam. Since 1844, the written Bar Exam has acted as a barrier to the entrance of American legal practice. As such, Javionté has dedicated his work to helping future attorneys study while also dismantling the current iteration of the Bar Exam, thereby making the profession more accessible to African Americans and others of diverse backgrounds.
Javionté previously worked as a Criminal Defense Staff Attorney with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem for four years. Javionté graduated from Brooklyn Law School in May 2019 as a Public Interest Public Service (Pips) Fellow and New York Pro Bono Scholar. As a Pips Fellow, Javionté worked full-time at the Legal Aid Society’s Decarceration Project where he helped to usher in New York’s 2020 bail reforms. During his final year of law school, Javionté was recognized as an Equal Justice Works finalist for his development of a project that offered direct legal services to formerly incarcerated homeless individuals in New York City. Javionté graduated from James Madison University with a B.A. in both Political Science and English.
