2012, New Jersey

2016, New York

2023, U.S. Court of International Trade

2025, Georgia

2025, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

2025, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia

2025, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia

American University, Washington College of Law (LL.M., 2013)

Rutgers Law School (J.D., 2012)

Georgia Institute of Technology (B.S., 2008)

J. Brian Johns

Brian Johns is an associate in Wicker Smith’s Atlanta office, where his practice involves primarily civil litigation and dispute resolution.

Brian is a seasoned attorney with experience in domestic and international arbitration and mediation, the federal courts, and legal scholarship. Prior to joining Wicker Smith in 2025, he spent four years as a senior judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jennifer Choe-Groves of the U.S. Court of International Trade. As a member of Judge Choe-Groves’ chambers, Brian assisted in judicial review of complex cases involving international trade, administrative law, intellectual property, and constitutional issues. During his clerkship, Judge Choe-Groves sat by designation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. In these designation matters, Brian worked on cases of contract, criminal, employment, Indian, intellectual property, and immigration law.

Earlier in his career, Brian served as a law clerk for the Honorable Christopher L. Ray of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia and spent over five years with the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the American Arbitration Association’s international division. There, he managed high-value cases, advised global stakeholders, and represented the organization before the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and other forums.

He holds an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from American University, specializing in international arbitration, international business law, and international organizations law, and a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law–Camden (now Rutgers Law School), where he was an editor of the Rutgers Law Journal (now Rutgers University Law Review), an oralist for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot team, and a member of the Rutgers Human Rights clinic. Since graduation, Brian has continued to volunteer with law students as a lecturer on international dispute resolution and moot court coach, organizer, and adjudicator. He earned his undergraduate degree with honors from Georgia Tech.

An active legal writer and editor, Brian serves as Executive Editor of ITA in Review and has published on arbitration, the incorporation of artificial intelligence in the legal system, and human rights. He is admitted to practice in Georgia, New York, New Jersey, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, and the U.S. Court of International Trade.

State Bar of Georgia

Atlanta Bar Association

Institute for Transnational Arbitration

Atlanta International Arbitration Society

Customs and International Trade Bar Association

Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Alumni Association