When governments and financial regulators around the world grapple with the risks that can ripple from Wall Street to everyday Americans, Professor Christian Johnson is often part of the conversation. At Widener Commonwealth Law School, those same conversations become classroom lessons, helping students understand how the law influences global markets, public policy and the financial decisions that affect millions of people.
Whether discussing the Federal Reserve's role in setting interest rates or explaining how financial markets influence mortgages, student loans and credit cards, Johnson wants future lawyers to recognize that business law reaches far beyond the boardroom.
"The government spends a lot of time trying to understand how it can minimize these risks so that Wall Street doesn't hurt Main Street," Johnson said.
That perspective has shaped a career spanning academia, government consulting and international teaching. Johnson, the Commonwealth Professor of Law and Business Advising and director of the Business Advising Program, has spent decades building a reputation as one of the nation's leading scholars on legal documentation in financial markets and banking law. Most recently, he served as an academic consultant to the Office of Commissioner Kristin Johnson at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he advised on policy issues involving derivatives markets and financial regulation. He previously served as an academic consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In particular, Professor Johnson has specialized in how syndicated loans, OTC derivatives, repos, and securities lending transactions are documented.
Over the past three decades, when Johnson isn’t teaching, he has advised central banks, sovereign wealth funds, financial regulators, multilateral development banks and financial institutions across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East about legal documentation in capital markets. He has testified before Congress, lectured at universities around the world and helped organizations understand how to document complex financial transactions safely and responsibly. He spent a week this summer teaching a course on syndicated lending and repos in Melbourne, Australia.
Despite working on issues measured in trillions of dollars, Johnson says one of the greatest values he brings to central banks, financial institutions, and policymakers is an independent perspective.
"I don't have a horse in the race," he said. "I can come in and talk to regulators and large financial institutions, and I don't have an agenda. There's nothing in it for me other than teaching them how to document these transactions correctly and safely."
That impartiality has made him a trusted voice in a highly specialized area of law.
While relatively few attorneys practice in derivatives and complex financial markets, Johnson says the field offers tremendous opportunities for students willing to develop expertise.
"The dollar amounts are often measured in the trillions," he said. "These are very large transactions handled by a relatively small group of professionals who become specialists."
His scholarship continues to shape conversations throughout the profession. Johnson has co-authored five books and published more than three dozen articles on the documentation of capital market transactions for banking, derivatives and financial regulation. He serves as co-editor-in-chief of International Banking and Securities Law, and sits on the editorial board of the Futures & Derivatives Law Report. He was recently invited to join the panel of experts for P.R.I.M.E. Finance, an international organization that helps resolve complex financial disputes.
Although his work regularly places him alongside regulators and financial leaders around the world, Johnson says it always comes back to his students.
"I try to introduce students to a world they haven't really thought about before," he said. "It opens up different career paths and different ideas."
Many students enter law school expecting to become litigators and do criminal law. Johnson enjoys introducing them to the world of business law, where attorneys help companies solve problems, negotiate transactions and navigate complex regulations.
His courses challenge students to analyze publicly traded companies, examine financial statements and understand how legal decisions shape businesses, markets and consumers. Students interested in pursuing transactional law can continue through Widener Commonwealth's Business Advising Certificate, which provides a roadmap of courses designed to prepare them for careers in business practice. Johnson is also the faculty advisor for the school's Transactional Negotiation team, where students negotiate complex business deals against teams from law schools across the country in exercises modeled after real legal practice.
Johnson believes Widener Law Commonwealth's location in Pennsylvania's capital provides another advantage.
With state agencies such as the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission nearby, students have access to externships and professional opportunities that expose them to the business and regulatory side of legal practice.
"There couldn't be a better place to go to school if you want to regulate businesses," he said.
For Johnson, one of the most rewarding parts of teaching is watching students discover career paths they never knew existed.
"These business courses open up a whole new world for them," he said. "Then they start considering career paths they hadn't even thought about."
He also wants students to understand that financial regulation is not an abstract concept reserved for economists or investment firms.
"They need to understand the impact of these decisions on their daily lives," he said.
Looking back, Johnson never imagined his career would take him from practicing law to advising governments and teaching about legal documentation in countries around the globe. Those opportunities, he says, came only after years of practicing law, publishing scholarship and building expertise.
"It took two decades of publications, working for law firms and teaching courses to establish my credibility to financial institutions and regulators about how to document capital market transactions," he said.
That lesson is one he hopes every student carries with them. Expertise is built over time through curiosity, persistence and a willingness to keep learning. Those qualities have taken Johnson from the classroom to some of the world's most influential financial institutions, and they continue to shape the education he brings back to Widener Commonwealth Law School each semester.
