Judge Alan B. Johnson: Wyoming's Senior Jurist Reflects on Nearly 60 Years in the Legal Profession

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Pages: 24
• Citation: Vol. 46 No. 3 Pg. 24
• Publication year: 2023

Judge Alan B. Johnson: Wyoming's Senior Jurist Reflects on Nearly 60 Years in the Legal ProfessionVol. 46 No. 3 Pg. 24Wyoming Bar JournalJune, 2023

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson is 84 years old, still on the bench and not going anywhere. Ask him if he plans to retire soon, and the judge smiles, bemused—like you've just suggested he take up water ballet.

His lifework is the law, and whether he's in a courtroom presiding over a case or in his - chambers, surrounded by statute books, he's as much a part of the Joseph C. O'Mahoney federal building in Cheyenne as the precast concrete panels that wrap around the building's exterior.

Recently, Johnson reflected on his prodigious career and the reasons for its endurance.

"I love the profession," he told the Wyoming Lawyer. "I love what it stands for. I can't think of any better profession than one that honors the principles of fairness and justice."

"It's an endlessly fascinating experience" Johnson said of being a judge. "Every aspect of human life, every case carries with it a story. Maybe it's that

I have always liked to listen to stories."

But when he talks about his role as a federal judge, his life in general and his reason for continuing to view retirement as a mere novelty, it quickly becomes obvious that what he regards most important in his life is not his legal work.

It's people.

Johnson attributes the quality and success of his career in the legal profession to the people with whom he has associated over his many years as an attorney and judge.

A Cheyenne native, he still remembers the name of his speech and debate teacher and his debate partner, who, he said, was better at it than he was. She was Lynn Harnsberger, daughter of the late Harry S. Harnsberger, a Wyoming Supreme

Court justice from 1953-1969.

"I got to know him and respected and admired him," said Johnson, adding that meeting his debate partner's father was the start of his interest in law.

Johnson earned his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in 1961, then "drifted into" the UW College of Law, where he encountered some of the people he had grown to admire through high school debate competitions.

The memory of them made him smile, and he named a couple of his classmates: former governor Mike Sullivan and retired Casper attorney Joe Vlastos.

After graduating from law school in 1964, Johnson served several years in the U.S. Air Force in a position on the Judge...