Position: Member

TEL: 512-215-4078

FAX: 

Email: Click Here

Website: www.jmehlaw.com/

Admitted: Texas

Law School: J.D., with high honors, University of Texas School of Law, 2002.

College: B.A., English, magna cum laude, Brigham Young University, 1997.

Birth Date and Place: 

Practice Areas: Civil Litigation, Appellate Practice, Condemnation, Eminent Domain

Additional Information:  Chris Johns is a founding partner of Johns Marrs Ellis & Hodge LLP, a trial and appellate boutique with offices in Austin and Houston. Chris focuses on eminent-domain trials and civil appeals. He has won cases for his clients in courts across the country—from state and federal trial and appellate courts to the United States Supreme Court. He also teaches a course on eminent domain and private-property rights at the University of Texas School of Law. Chris grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, where he attended public schools. He went to Brigham Young University on academic and piano scholarships and, after his first year of college, served for two years as a full-time volunteer for his church in Oakland and San Francisco. There, Chris spent most of his time in neighborhoods unlike anything he’d ever seen in rural West Virginia. Still, he can’t imagine a better education: speaking with thousands of people about their lives, hopes, and fears; becoming fluent in Spanish; observing communities that thrived and others that failed; and making friends with individuals from many countries and many walks of life, from gang members to high-level government officials. Chris decided during his volunteer service that he eventually wanted to become a lawyer and advocate, so he studied English upon return to BYU, graduating magna cum laude in 1997. Chris received his J.D. with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law, where he was editor in chief of the Texas Law Review, a member of the Chancellors honor society, and a member of the Order of the Coif. He received Dean’s Achievement Awards in several of his classes. After graduation, Chris clerked for the Honorable Phyllis A. Kravitch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He then attended the University of Oxford, where he received a postgraduate law degree and authored a frequently cited dissertation analyzing the relationship between property and the law of obligations. He entered private practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he worked with former Texas Solicitor General Greg Coleman in the firm’s national Supreme Court and appellate practice. Chris has testified about property rights on invitation from the Texas Legislature, lectured at the University of Texas School of Law, received multiple pro bono service awards, helped train UT’s moot-court teams, and appeared as a legal expert on television news programs. Texas Super Lawyers Magazine named him to its 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 lists of “Super Lawyers” and to its 2013 and 2014 lists of “Rising Stars,” a distinction reserved for the top 2.5% of Texas attorneys who are under 40 years of age or have been practicing law for fewer than 10 years. He is also a barrister in the Lloyd Lochridge American Inn of Court. Chris is licensed in Texas and New York and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas, several other federal courts across the country, and all state courts in Texas. Chris volunteers for the Boy Scouts of America, serving as a Scoutmaster to one of the highest achieving troops in Central Texas. He is also an accomplished pianist, teacher, soccer player and coach, and former Spanish interpreter. Most important, Chris is lucky to be married to an amazing woman, to have three fun and loving sons, and to share life with wonderful friends and family.

Firm Members: Zev Kusin