OUR MANAGING ATTORNEY

ATTY. JOHNSON LAZARO

Johnson Lazaro is a first-generation Filipino-American immigrant who grew up in Santa Mesa, Manila. At the age of 9, he and his family immigrated to the United States and settled in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, California. As someone who had first-hand experience on racial backlash, he was motivated to take up law as a means to empower immigrants who are facing the same challenges as he and his family did when he was younger.

He eventually took up an undergraduate degree in Arts and Humanities at Sonoma State University (member of the California State University system) and took Law at the University of San Francisco. As a law student, Johnson was awarded an academic scholarship by the American Asian Bar Association for his contributions to the Asian and Filipino immigrant communities.

In 1995, he and other like-minded young lawyers founded Lazaro Law Group. Their goal was to put the full weight of the law behind those who had legal problems and were hampered by poor language skills, cultural confusion, or lack of money. Recognized by his peers, he was eventually elected as the President of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California where he organized the first conference of Filipino-American lawyers in the United States. ​

He has also represented clients in the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in Federal Courts and throughout his profession, he has advocated for providing pro-bono services for underprivileged members of society. This is because he believes that empty pockets should not be a reason for an individual to be improperly represented or disenfranchised of their legal rights under the U.S. Constitution. Nor should an accent, nor a different religion or belief, nor a different culture should make anybody below the law.