Brian N. Johnson

Brian N. Johnson is a founding attorney whose practice focuses on product liability and complex tort litigation. With 45 years of legal experience and more than 50 jury trials taken to verdict, he represents manufacturers, businesses, recreational operators, and other clients in high-stakes disputes. His work includes sports participation defense, transportation and trucking matters, foodborne illness claims, and cases involving fires, explosions, burns, chemical exposures, wrongful death, and serious personal injuries.

Brian earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from William Mitchell College of Law in 1981 and a B.A. from the University of Minnesota. His legal education provided a strong foundation in trial advocacy, legal analysis, and complex litigation. Over decades of practice, he has developed techniques that include accident reconstruction, mock jury exercises, and demonstrative trial exhibits, using those tools to evaluate liability issues, test case themes, and present technical evidence clearly to juries.

Brian serves as national trial counsel for heater, boiler, and pool equipment manufacturers and handles recreational product and powersports liability matters involving ATVs, side-by-sides, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, motorcycles, helmets, and bicycles. His experience also includes water park and amusement-area defense, industrial product claims involving machinery and equipment, consumer product cases, sporting goods matters, ski-area litigation, and transportation defense. He works across industries where technical facts, product performance, and accident causation are central to the dispute.

Brian N. Johnson is a Certified Civil Trial Specialist and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is also a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and numerous defense and product-liability organizations. His work has included extensive teaching and speaking on product liability, ski and sports litigation, risk management, expert witnesses, trial strategy, and accident investigations. He combines deep courtroom experience with industry knowledge and a problem-solving approach designed to position clients effectively in complex litigation.

Law Office Affiliations

• Founding Attorney, Nilan Johnson Lewis PA
• Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
• Member, American Board of Trial Advocates
• Member, Association of Ski Defense Attorneys
• Member, Trial Attorneys of America
• Member, Products Liability Advisory Committee
• Member, Defense Research Institute
• Member, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association
• Member, Minnesota State Bar Association
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Academy of Certified Trial Lawyers of Minnesota

Licensed State

• Minnesota

Education

• William Mitchell College of Law
  Juris Doctor (JD)
• University of Minnesota
  Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Awards & Badges