FORCES OF NATURE: Hon. Judge Barbara Johnson

Name: Hon. Judge Barbara Johnson (retired)

Profession: ADR Services Neutral

In my tenure as a probate litigator, I have met many skilled judges on the bench. One such gem of a judge is former Los Angeles Superior Court judge (and now neutral), Honorable Barbara Johnson. Judge Johnson retired from the bench in 2020 after nearly 30 years of serving our legal community. While I can drone on and on (and on and on and on) about Judge Johnson’s legal skills and ability to resolve a dispute, I will let you read more about it here. 

My experience with Judge Johnson on the bench involved a client whose mother was experiencing a mental health crisis in 2018 and needed both a probate conservatorship and an LPS one.  As soon as I stepped up to counsel table, I realized that Judge Johnson had read the file and knew exactly where to guide me.  She deftly navigated the non-probate conservatorship (LPS) aspect of the case and I was able to get total relief for the client.  You can say that day, Judge Johnson saved a human life and spared a client a lot of grief.  To sum up Judge Johnson, the buck stops with her.  Perhaps because she’s the eldest of 6 siblings and hard work is wired and woven in her with equal measure resulting in an undeniable conclusion that, yep, she’s a force of nature.

Read more about Barbara here.

Author: Benny Roshan, Chair of Greenberg Glusker's Trust and Probate Litigation Group

Photographer: Hemali Zaveri