James Johnson takes over as Riverside city attorney after a year of interim leadership

The City Council picked Johnson on a 5-2 vote, with members Phillip Falcone and Chuck Conder dissenting; Falcone said he backed the candidate but balked at the contract terms. Johnson will earn $372,624 a year on a three-year deal.

The seat has been unsettled since the council placed Phaedra Norton on administrative leave in September 2024 and dismissed her without cause in April 2025. Assistant city attorneys Jack Liu and then Rebecca McKee-Reimbold filled the role on an interim basis through the search.

Johnson's background runs through public-sector housing and municipal law — real estate acquisition and disposition, public-entity governance, and litigation at HACLA — plus four years as a Los Angeles deputy county counsel and a term on the Long Beach City Council. For operators with entitlement, development-agreement, or land-use business before the city, the office now has a permanent counterpart.