Christian A. Johnson
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law
Professor Johnson joined the S.J. Quinney law faculty in 2008 after serving 13 years at Loyola University Chicago Law School. He publishes extensively on corporate finance and derivatives, having written four books and more than 36 articles on these topics. Professor Johnson testified before Congress in 2009 on the regulation of derivatives. He has been a frequent speaker on the financial crisis and corporate finance at institutions including the IMF, the American Bar Association, the Futures Industry Association, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a variety of academic institutions abroad such as the University of Hong Kong, the National University of Singapore, Osgoode Law School and the University of Johannesburg. He has been a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne and an academic consultant for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Prior to joining the Loyola faculty, Professor Johnson was an associate for Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York, and Mayer, Brown in Chicago. As a student at Columbia Law School, he was the executive editor of the Columbia Law Review and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Prior to law school, he was a C.P.A. with Price Waterhouse.
Scholarship Highlights
Books and Portfolios
Accounting for Mortgages and Mortgage Backed Securities, co-authored with Luis Betancourt & Sharon Nowakowski (Bureau of National Affairs Accounting Portfolio Series 2008)
Accounting and Disclosure for Derivative Transactions, co-authored with Mary Grossman, Ira Kawaller & Reva Steinberg (Bureau of National Affairs Accounting Portfolio Series No. 5112 2007)
A Guide to Using and Negotiating OTC Derivatives Documentation (2d ed. of Over-the-Counter Derivatives Documentation, Institutional Investor Books 2005)
A Practical Guide to Repo Agreements, co-authored with Paul Harding (Euromoney Books 2004)
Mastering Collateral Management: a Practical Guide to the ISDA Credit Support Documents, co-authored with Paul Harding (Financial Times/Prentice Hall November 2002)
Over-the-Counter Derivatives Documentation: A Practical Guide for Executives (Bowne 2000)
Book Chapters
Legal and Policy Aspects of the Central Bank's Role in the Payment System: Finality of Settlement and "Central Bank Money," co-authored with Robert Steigerwald in Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (IMF 2008)
Collateralizing Over-The-Counter Derivative Obligations in Secured Finance Transactions, (Paul Ali ed., Globe Publishing 2007)
U.S. Perspective in Mastering the ISDA Master Agreement (Paul Harding ed., FT Prentice Hall 2003)
Selected Articles
The Enigma of Clearing Buy Side OTC Derivatives, Futures & Derivatives L. Rep. (December 2009)
Assessing a Decade of Interstate Bank Branching, co-authored with Tara Rice, 65 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 73 (2008)
A Bank By Any Other Name . . ., co-authored with George Kaufman, 31 Econ. Persp. No. 4 (2007)
The Financial Services Lawyer's Bookshelf: A Selected Bibliography Of Payment, Clearing And Settlement Resources, co-authored with Robert S. Steigerwald, J. Payment Sys. L. 10-2 (2006)
Justice and the Administrative State: The FDIC and the Superior Bank Failure, 36 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 483 (2005)
Netting, Financial Contracts, and Banks: The Economic Implications, co-authored with Bill Bergman, Robert Bliss, & George Kaufman, Res. in Fin. Services (2003)
Holding Credit Hostage for Underwriting Ransom: Rethinking Bank Antitying Rules, 64 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 157 (2002)
Banking, Antitrust and Derivatives: Untying the Antitying Restrictions, 49 Buff. L. Rev. 1 (2001)
At the Intersection of Bank Finance and Derivative Transactions: Who has the Right of Way?, 66 Tenn. L. Rev. 1 (1998) (cited in Thrifty Oil Co. v. Bank of America, 249 B.R. 537, S.D. Cal. 2000)
Derivatives and Rehypothecation Failure - It's 3:00 p.m., Do You Know Where Your Collateral Is?, 39 Ariz. L. Rev. 949 (1997)
Other Publications
Bank Capital and the Credit Crisis, G8 Summit Magazine (2009)
Confronting The Top 10 Excuses: Negotiating ISDA Derivative Documentation, J. Payment Sys. L. 09-2 (2006)
Swaps versus Futures: A Regulatory History, Derivatives Wk., Apr. 29, 2005
Close-Out Netting & Set-Off Under U.S. Banking Insolvency Law (Learning Curve Column), Derivatives Wk., Aug. 18, 2003, at 7
Seven Deadly Sins of ISDA Negotiations (Learning Curve), Derivatives Wk., Mar. 25, 2002, at 6
Liquidity & The ISDA Master Agreement (Learning Curve), Derivatives Wk., Apr. 30, 2001, at 6
Rehypothecation Risk (Learning Curve), Derivatives Wk., Apr. 16, 2001, at 5
Selected Talks and Presentations
The Effect of Anticipated OTC Derivative Market Regulatory Reform on New York City, The Fall of the Economy: How New York Can Rise to the Challenge Symposium, St. John's University School of Law, New York, Mar. 2010
The Role of the U.S. Federal Reserve in Combating the Financial Crisis, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg South Africa, July 2009
Unusual and Exigent Circumstances: The Role of the U.S. Federal Reserve in the Recent Financial Crisis, Central Bank Liquidity Panel at the WG Hart Workshop on Law Reform and Financial Markets, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, London, June 2009
The Effective Regulation of the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets, Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises, Washington, D.C., June 2009
The U.S. Economic Crisis: Causes, Myths and Solutions, University of Hong Kong and the Asian Institute of International Financial Law, Hong Kong, May 2009
OTC Derivatives: Legal Risk, the Lehman Insolvency and Derivative Documentation, ABA Section of Business Law, Vancouver, Canada, Apr. 2009
Understanding OTC Derivatives, presentation to the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, Dana Point, California, Mar. 2009
Derivatives, Lehman Brothers and Global Systemic Risk, University of British Columbia's National Centre for Business Law, Calgary, Canada, Feb. 2009
OTC Derivatives, Brunei Investment Agency, Brunei Darussalam, Jan. 2009
Loan Documentation, EDC (Export Development Bank of Canada), Ottawa, Canada, Oct. 2008
Derivatives and ISDA Master Agreement Workshop, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, D.C., Feb. 2008 and Mar. 2008
Reducing Systemic and Legal Risk in International Derivative Markets, University of Hong Kong and the Asian Institute of International Financial Law, Hong Kong, Dec. 2007
Understanding Over-the-Counter Derivatives through the Lens of CFTC Regulation, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago, Illinois, Nov. 2007
The Globalization and Regulation of OTC Derivatives and Financial Risk, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Oct. 2007
Loan Documentation, BNDES (the Brazilian Development Bank), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Oct. 2007
Regulating Financial Risk: The Case of OTC Derivatives on International Financial Markets, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Apr. 2007
Contractual Innovations Developed by the OTC Derivatives Industry: Amending Contracts to Deal with Systemic Industry Changes, Third International Conference on Contracts, Houston, Texas, Feb. 2007
Regulating Financial Risk: The Case of OTC Derivatives on International Financial Markets, Putting Theory Into Practice Osgoode Hall Law School International Speakers Series, Toronto, Canada, Feb. 2007
The Legal and Policy Aspects of Central Bank Payment Settlement and Finality, with Robert Steigerwald, International Monetary Fund Seminar on Current Developments in Monetary and Financial Law: Law and Financial Stability, Washington D.C., Oct. 2006
Understanding the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law Treatment of OTC Derivatives, American Bar Association Section of Business Law Spring Meeting, Tampa, Florida, Apr. 2006
Clarifying Ambiguities: Bankruptcy Reform and Derivatives Panel, Subcommittee on Insolvency and Related Issues (Derivatives and Futures Law Committee), ABA Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, Aug. 2005
Swaps versus Futures, Introduction to Derivatives Workshop Panel, Futures Industry Association 27th Annual Law & Compliance Division Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, May 2005
Commissioner V. Banks - Is the portion of a money judgment or settlement paid to a plaintiff's attorney under a contingent-fee agreement income to the plaintiff?, Moderator, American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law Teleconference, Feb. 2005
Derivatives Collateralization Issues: Implications for Banks, Exchanges, and Clearing Organizations, Financial Markets and Payments System Work Group, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, May 2002
Legal Uncertainty and OTC Derivatives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 2001
Professional Affiliations
Bar Memberships
New York
Illinois (inactive)
Nevada (inactive)
Professional License
Certified Public Accountant - Texas (inactive)
Other Professional Affiliations
American Bar Association
Illinois Bar Association
Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants