Ryan C. Johnson
Partner
For more than two decades, Ryan Johnson has earned a reputation as an aggressive trial lawyer and advocate with a long track record of success in the courtroom and the boardroom, earning verdicts and settlements of more than $100 million. Ryan uses his background in engineering and safety, as well as relationships with leading industry experts across the country, to help his clients achieve their financial goals.
He has broad experience representing businesses and individuals in litigation and arbitration, as well as product liability matters. Ryan’s passion is advocating for his clients in the courtroom, having successfully prosecuted a wide variety of claims involving serious personal injury, wrongful death, merger and acquisition agreements, violations of non-competition agreements, trademark and trade-secret disputes, patent infringement claims, employment discrimination disputes, product liability, and securities claims.
Ryan also serves as outside general counsel and a trusted advisor to businesses in the restaurant, agriculture, and construction industries, and has experience representing clients in commercial business and real estate transactions. Whether in the courtroom or the boardroom, Ryan aggressively and passionately represents his clients and gets results.
Ryan has been selected by his colleagues to the Texas Super Lawyers list, a Thomson Reuters Service, in Texas Monthly magazine for the last decade, in recognition of his advocacy on behalf of clients.
Ryan has also served as an adjunct professor at Baylor Law School, where he has taught classes on arbitration and lectures on trial preparation.
Outside of practicing law, Ryan enjoys fishing, hunting, skiing, running, and spending time with his wife and three children.
Education
- Baylor University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 2005, ranked second in law school commencement class
- Texas A&M University, B.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering, 1999
Bar & Court Admissions
- Licensed in Texas
- Licensed in Oklahoma
- United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- Personal Injury
- Intellectual Property
- Commercial Litigation
- Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2016-present
- Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Thomson Reuters, 2013-2016
- Top 100 Trial Lawyer, National Trial Lawyers Association, 2023
- Jaworski Fellow Candidate, Baylor Law School, 2024
- State Bar of Texas, Recipient of Presidential Citation for Pro Bono Work
- Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Life Member
- Represented family in the recovery of $20 million as part of a will dispute
- Represented worker paralyzed in a workplace injury, obtaining a $12 million jury verdict
- Represented business in the enforcement of a non-competition agreement, trade-secret misappropriation
- Represented family in multi-death, brain injury resulting from a product defect, resulting in $9 million confidential settlement
- Represented buyer in enforcing representations and warranties in a stock purchase agreement
- Represented welder suffering massive burn injuries in a gas line explosion
- Represented one of the largest franchisors in multiple franchisee disputes
- Represented child killed due to neglect from a private foster care system
- Represented local business in first party insurance claim exceeding $3 million
- Represented employee in manufacturing plant suffering leg amputation from forklift injury
- Represented local business in trademark dispute
- Represented landowners in dispute over 3 3-generation family-owned ranch
- Adjunct Professor at Baylor Law School
- State Bar of Texas
- State Bar of Oklahoma
- Oklahoma Bar Foundation
- American Bar Association
- Judge Abner V. McCall Inn of the Court, Member
- The Advocate – Texas State Bar Litigation Report, Editorial Board Member
- State Bar of Texas, District 8 Grievance Committee, 2023 to Present
- Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Waco Class XXII
- K-Life Ministries, previous Waco Board of Directors
- Midway Little League, previous Executive Board of Directors
- Lecturer: Practice Court Program, Presentation on Preparing Clients for Depositions, Baylor Law School, 2025
- Advisory Panel: Patent Litigation Advocacy Program, Baylor Law School, 2024