Dr. Ernest L. Johnson, Esq.
Visiting Professor - Southern University Law Center,
President Emeritus, LA State NAACP,
Former member of the NAACP National Board, and
Civil Rights Attorney
Ernest L. Johnson has over 45 years of professional, leadership and management experience in a number of high‐level legal, financial, educational, and civic and public policy positions. Dr. Johnson has been a member of the Southern University Law Center faculty since graduating in 1976. He is a former Member to the NAACP National Board of Directors and was Chairman of the Memberships and Units Committee 2 009- 2017. In 2001, he was appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a public delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.
Dr. Johnson has an extensive and proven working knowledge of broadcast, financial and insurance institutions, budgeting and personnel management procedures including but not limited to loan processing. Since 1996, he has been president and CEO of Louisiana Community Development Capital Fund, Inc., (“CDFI”) a consulting company that provides advertising, financial and business management assistance to small emerging businesses. He served as President and CEO of Life Savings Bank in Baton Rouge for three years where he gained valuable experience with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).
A 1973 honors graduate of Grambling State University with a major in political science and a minor in economics, D r. Johnson earned his law degree from Southern University Law Center, where he also received recognition for numerous academic and civic achievements, including election to the office of president of the Student Bar Association. In 2007, he was inducted into the Southern University Law Center Alumni Hall of Fame. As an added extra, in 2006, he received his first patent as inventor of an automatic hair washing device “the RediWash” from the United States Patent Office in Washington, D. C.
After a distinguished academic career in which he was awarded the prestigious Earl Warren Legal Fellowship and the Baker‐Voorhis Award, among other honors, Mr. Johnson established a multifaceted legal practice specializing in general, corporate and Civil Rights litigation. Over the past 45 years, Mr. Johnson has served as lead counsel, co‐counsel or legal consultant on a number of high profile public interest and Civil Rights cases that have had a profoundly positive and lasting impact on justice for minorities, the quality of public and higher education, and the resolution of legal issues related to financial and insurance industries. H e w a s lead counsel in the case of Clark v. Edwards which lead to the interrogation of the Louisiana Judicial System in 1991. On October 15, 2018 his baby girl, Taylor Johnson. was sworn in by the Louisiana Supreme Court as a practicing attorney!
Beyond his legal career, Dr. Johnson, an ordained Minister, has achieved distinction in numerous other educational and civic endeavors. He received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity in 2015. He also served for one year as vice‐chairman of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Grambling State University, which resulted in significant operational and educational improvements. During his career as an adjunct professor, he has taught Clinical Education (law students and social studies undergraduate students), Civil Rights Litigation, Trial Advocacy, Law Office Management, and Social Legislation. He is the senior pastor of Windows of Heaven Ministry.
His past civic achievements are also noteworthy. He was President of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP elected in 1995 and served as a member of the NAACP’s National Resolutions Committee from Region VI for twelve years. During his tenure with the NAACP, he has consistently won many of the top awards for related achievements, including the Alexander Pierre Tureaud Award, the Thalheimer Award, Kelly M. Alexander Award in 1997 and 2008, and the Medgar Evers Award, to name a few.
He has gain extensive experience in the television and radio station business development serving as co‐founder of WNDC AM Baton Rouge (1988), KCLF AM New Roads (1990), WTQT‐LPFM Baton Rouge, KVTZ‐LPFM Breaux Bridge, KOUS‐LPFM Monroe and KTJZ‐FM Tallulah. Television stations K31 Shreveport, K29 Monroe, and K4 Alexandria.