Broderick Johnson is head of the Public Policy and Governmental Affairs Group, and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. He comes to Bryan Cave with more than two decades of public policy and law experience.
From 1998-2000, Mr. Johnson served in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. He was named Deputy Assistant to the President and House Liaison, acting as the Clinton Administration’s primary advocate before the U.S. House of Representatives during 1999 and 2000. From 2000 to 2007, he worked as vice president for congressional affairs with the AT&T and BellSouth corporations. During those years, he worked extensively with the Democratic leadership of both Houses of Congress. His primary policy focus has been before House and Senate committees presiding over commerce, judiciary and tax issues. In 2004, he also served as the senior congressional affairs advisor for the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign and in 2008 was an informal advisor to the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
Mr. Johnson began his legal career in 1983 when he was appointed assistant counsel in the House of Representatives’ Office of Legislative Counsel. There he drafted such landmark legislation as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. He left that post in 1989 to join another Washington, D.C., law firm. After spending four years in private practice, he returned to Congress to serve as majority staff director and chief counsel for the House Committee on the District of Columbia (1993-1995) under then-Chairman Fortney "Pete" Stark. He went on to serve as the Democratic chief counsel for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce under then Ranking Member William Clay (D–MO) from 1995 to 1998.
By virtue of his career in the nation's capital, Mr. Johnson has developed deep relationships with Democratic leaders in the House and Senate as well as the chairmen of key House and Senate committees and their respective senior policy staffs. These committees include House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, House Financial Services, Senate Banking, House Energy and Commerce, Senate Commerce, House Education and Labor, Senate HELP, and House and Senate Judiciary.
His advocacy before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees has frequently involved counsel regarding pending or proposed mergers, including the SBC/AT&T and the AT&T/Bell South mergers. He continues to work on Congress' deliberations over patent reform.
Mr. Johnson has served on the boards of directors of several philanthropic and academic entities, including the Center for American Progress and the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. He has co-founded and served as president of several child advocacy organizations.