Lauren Johnson-Norris has 18 years of experience defending clients in criminal and juvenile cases. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyer Rising Star and Top Women Lawyer in Southern California by Los Angeles Magazine. She has represented thousands of clients, and has both zealously defended and exonerated many clients in complex and high-stakes cases in Southern California. Her advocacy, experience, and passion to protect her client’s rights has earned her an outstanding reputation amongst her peers, prosecutors, and Judges.
Ms. Johnson-Norris is the Past-President of the South Orange County Bar Association, an association of lawyers whose clients are in South Orange County. She is also active in the Orange County Bar Association and several criminal defense bar associations in California and nation-wide. Ms. Johnson-Norris is also a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer College, where she received training by the nation’s greatest trial lawyers.
In 2012, Ms. Johnson-Norris wrote the winning appeal in the landmark juvenile medical marijuana case In re Drake M. (2012) 211 Cal.App.4th 754. In 2011, Ms. Johnson-Norris was awarded the Paul Bell Fellowship through Appellate Defenders, Inc. for her work championing the rights of parents in Juvenile Dependency Appeals. She has handled nearly 400 cases on appeal.
Upon graduation from Law School, Ms. Johnson-Norris was awarded the Archie A. Gorfinkle Award For The Most Promising Graduate Entering The Field Of Criminal Law from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Lauren Johnson-Norris has volunteered to judge mock trial at UCI Law School and presented a mock argument to the incoming 1L class.
Ms. Johnson-Norris is a Southern California native and serves as an Irvine City Commissioner with the City of Irvine.