Professional Background
Lester B. Johnson, III, is the owner and sole stockholder of the Law Firm of Lester B. Johnson, III, P.C. He concentrates his practice in the areas of education law, municipal law, insurance law, personal injury and torts, veteran's benefits, and probate law. Since 1982, he has served as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Savannah and, since 1991, has served as School Board Attorney for the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education. He is also a Special Assistant Attorney General for the Georgia Department of Corrections and Transportation.
Education
Mr. Johnson is a native Savannahian and graduated from Benedictine Military School in 1971. He received his undergraduate degree in political science from the College of the Holy Cross in 1975 and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1978.
Professional Leadership & Bar Involvement
Mr. Johnson is a past President and the first African-American President of the Savannah Bar Association. He served as an appointed member of the Board of Governors for the State Bar of Georgia from 2002 to 2004 and was elected to the Board of Governors in 2006, where he is currently serving his fifth consecutive term. In 2015, he was appointed to a two-year term on the Judicial Qualification Commission, the body that disciplines Georgia judges. In 2004, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the Georgia School Board Association’s Council of School Attorneys and is currently serving his fifth consecutive term. He served as its President in 2008 and 2014.
Civic & Community Involvement
Mr. Johnson is active in several professional and civic organizations, including Medbank Foundation, Inc.; the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire; Arts Ashore Legacy Foundation; Coastal Children’s Advocacy Board; the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Business Brunch Committee; and Congregations In Service. He also serves on the Wells Fargo Bank Advisory Board.
Professional Memberships
He has been a member of Sigma Pi Phi (The Boule) since 1997 and has served as Sire Archon and Grapter. He is also a member of the National Bar Association and the Port City Bar Association.
Personal & Faith Background
Mr. Johnson is married to Salyon H. Johnson, Ed.D., and has three children. In 1975, while attending law school, he converted to Al-Islam and is a member of the local masjid (mosque), where he serves as General Counsel and is a long-serving member of the Majlis Ashura (administrative board).
