Morgan H. Johnson

Morgan H. Johnson is Special Counsel at Taylor Porter, where her practice focuses on complex litigation and investigations. She brings substantial first-chair trial experience to high-stakes matters, including investigations, case strategy, expert preparation, negotiated resolutions, and trial.

Before joining Taylor Porter, Morgan served in the Complex Litigation Unit and as a Section Chief with the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office, where she managed a substantial caseload of complex homicide, sexual assault, and organized crime matters. She tried 19 jury trials to verdict as first-chair or solo counsel, including multi-defendant cases requiring coordination across investigative agencies and extensive expert witness preparation.

In 2024, Morgan was named Litigator of the Year by the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office for the 19th Judicial District Court in recognition of her success trying complex jury trials to verdict, courtroom skills, and effective handling of significant matters.

Morgan is also nationally recognized for her work in hazing investigations and litigation. As lead counsel in the litigation and 2019 jury trial conviction arising from the hazing death of LSU student Maxwell Gruver, she became a leading voice in this area and assisted in drafting legislation enacted under the Max Gruver Act, which led to the first comprehensive and modern hazing statutes in Louisiana, passed in 2018. She has since served as a legal commentator on ABC’s television and podcast series Death in the Dorms and as a keynote speaker for higher education organizations on hazing-related issues.

In 2025, Morgan coordinated and analyzed investigations concerning the hazing death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson across four independent organizations and secured indictments of individuals involved in Wilson’s death.

Morgan’s litigation experience includes sophisticated forensic and evidentiary issues. In 2021, she became the first attorney in Louisiana to qualify a Louisiana State Police DNA analyst as an expert in probabilistic genotyping using TrueAllele technology, an important development in the litigation of DNA evidence in Louisiana. She has also completed specialized digital forensic training through the National Computer Forensics Institute and the U.S. Secret Service.

Morgan received her J.D./M.C.L. from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where she was named to the Chancellor’s List, received a CALI Award for Legal Research and Writing, and served as Editor-in-Chief of The Civilian.

She earned her B.A. in Journalism, with distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she attended as a Morehead-Cain Scholar after receiving the prestigious full-merit Morehead-Cain Scholarship.