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Jiro Johnson

A man smiling for the camera.

Although his first name is Remington, Jiro goes by his Japanese middle name to honor his Japanese and black heritage.  Jiro Johnson was raised in Salt Lake City, having gone to West High School and then graduating from the University of Utah with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science and a minor in History.  During college Jiro worked in Utah politics as a Hinckley intern at the Utah State Legislature, and ultimately decided to attend law school.  He moved to Washington D.C. in 2008 to attend the George Washington University Law School where he graduated at the top of his class with honors in 2011.  While attending GWU Law School, he was a member of the Federal Circuit Bar Journal and the Black Law Student Association.   Jiro was both a Thurgood Marshall and George Washington Scholar for his academic achievement while attending law school.  Jiro also was a clerk for the Federal Election Commission during his second summer at law school where he worked to resolve complex campaign finance concerns and aided campaign finance investigations.

Although Jiro began his career in Washington D.C., he moved back to Utah in 2013 and worked in civil and commercial litigation at Manning Curtis Bradshaw and Bednar. Jiro left Manning Curtis Bradshaw and Bednar in the summer of 2015 to work for the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association (Salt Lake County's public defender office) as a trial attorney.  While working there he has risen through the ranks and helped the office modernize with the assistance of technology upgrades that helps the office focus on how to holistically provide representation to Salt Lake County.  He is now one of the assistant directors of the public defender office for Salt Lake County where he manages around 180 employees.  He is a former board member of the LGBT and Allied Lawyers of Utah, a former president of the Utah Minority Bar Association, has taught legal courses at the Utah State Prison, and actively mentors college students and new lawyers giving them guidance on entering the legal profession.