Knoxville Attorney Sworn In as President-Elect of Nation’s Criminal Defense Bar
August 10, 2026, 12:00 p.m.

KNOXVILLE - Stephen Ross Johnson was sworn in as President-Elect of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association's annual meeting held on August 8.

	Stephen Ross Johnson

Johnson has defended criminal cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States, ranging from complex financial crimes to death penalty cases as a criminal defense trial and appellate attorney. He is the Managing Partner of Ritchie, Johnson & Stovall, P.C., in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Johnson has published articles and taught lawyers, law students, members of law enforcement, and others across the country on criminal law and litigation issues. He is Past President of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Past Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association Criminal Justice Section, served as Associate General Counsel for the Tennessee Bar Association, and served on the board of the Knoxville Bar Association. He is Past President of the Hamilton Burnett American Inn of Court.

Johnson is the founding Past President of the Tennessee Innocence Project. He has served for many years as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law Legal Clinic, where he directs the Wrongful Convictions Clinic and, before that, directed the Innocence Clinic. Johnson was involved in the drafting process and policy advocacy resulting in the passage of Tennessee’s Post-Conviction DNA Analysis Act of 2001 and Post-Conviction Fingerprint Analysis Act of 2021. Johnson has successfully litigated innocence cases that not only reversed wrongful convictions but helped establish the procedures in Tennessee for bringing newly discovered evidence claims.

Johnson is a Trustee of the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice (NFCJ) and has served as NACDL’s Treasurer, Secretary, Second Vice-President, and First Vice-President. He is the NACDL Lawyer’s Assistance Strike Force Representative for the Sixth Circuit and, in his 25 years of active involvement in NACDL, has chaired or served on multiple committees and task forces.

Johnson received his Doctor of Jurisprudence, with honors, from the University of Tennessee College of Law. He also holds a Diploma of Contemporary Economic History from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Economics from Carson-Newman University. Johnson is a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College.