Channing Johnson

Channing Johnson was born in Pasadena, California to Alvin and Jeffalyn Johnson. His mother was a college professor who taught African American history and his father was a local contractor and architect who designed and built the family’s home. Johnson graduated from John Muir High School in Pasadena, where he was deeply involved in sports and political activism. He went on to earn his B.A. degree in economics from Stanford University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

He began his legal career as a corporate associate at the law firm of Tuttle & Taylor in Los Angeles, California and was then hired by Los Angeles City Councilman Robert C. Farrell as his chief deputy. He later served as president of the Economic Resources Corporation in Lynwood, California before being hired by Kaye Scholer, where his clients included prominent figures in the music, film, and entertainment fields. He later went on to co-found the Los Angeles office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he negotiated the $30 million acquisition of The Great Western Forum Arena.

Johnson has served on the board of directors and as chair of KCET Television and has taught as an adjunct professor of entertainment law at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California. In 2003, he was named one of the Top Black Lawyers in the country by Black Enterprise magazine, and as a Southern California Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters.