Scott W. Johnson

After graduating from the University of Baltimore, Scott was happy to return home to Eastern Washington and honored to accept a position as a deputy prosecutor with the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office in 1997. Scott worked in District Court, Juvenile Court, where he was promoted to Chief Juvenile Court Deputy, and Superior Court, where he was further promoted to Chief Deputy of the criminal division. Scott prosecuted criminal cases ranging from DUI to livestock rustling, to complex white-collar theft, kidnapping, rape, and murder. Scott has argued extensively in Division III of the Washington State Court of Appeals and has argued before the Washington State Supreme Court.

After over 12 years of public service at the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office, Scott left the office in 2009 to go into private practice. In 2009, Scott joined Sal Mendoza Jr. and Shawn Sant at the Mendoza Law Office. After Shawn was elected Franklin County Prosecutor, Scott became partners with Sal Mendoza and the two formed Mendoza & Johnson in 2011. Sal then became a Benton County Superior Court Judge, a United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Washington, and a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge.

Scott then became a law partner with Mia Mendoza. Scott handled all levels of criminal cases and selected civil litigation at Mendoza and Johnson.

In October 2015, Scott was presented with an opportunity to start his own firm. Seeing a need in the Eastern Washington legal community for highly skilled attorney services with rapid crisis response, and without layers of bureaucracy separating the client and lawyer, Scott formed the law firm of Johnson and Orr, with partner Deric Orr. Scott and Deric have been able to implement their philosophy of offering clients rapid crisis response from highly skilled attorneys that clients actually have access to. In 2023 Scott and Deric welcomed Mitchell Crook as an associate attorney, adding to the depth of service we offer our clients.

Scott has tried over 200 jury trials and countless bench trials. Scott has had significant success in having clients found not guilty in extremely serious cases. Scott has also been able to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in awards and settlements for his civil clients. Scott and his cases have been featured by both local, national, and international print and television media outlets.