About
Ray lives in Manhattan Beach, California with his wife, miniature golden retriever and too many rescue cats to mention. He’s an attorney, author, aviator, aerospace engineer and combat veteran who holds the Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, and five Air Medals, among other awards. Ray has been a trial attorney for over 35 years, concentrating in product liability and aviation law, selected as a Super Lawyer by Los Angeles Magazine every year since 2006, and an adjunct instructor at the University of Southern California since 2021. He is also certified as a Mediator by Pepperdine University School of Law/Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution.
While in the U.S. Air Force, Ray flew as a fighter pilot, jet instructor and functional test pilot. He also received a master-of-science degree in astronautics from the Air Force Institute of Technology and co-chaired the DOD/NASA working groups on Space Shuttle design and integration. Ray graduated from New York University (BS Aerospace Engineering) and the School of Law at the College of William and Mary. He is principal co-author of the legal treatise Defective Product: Evidence to Verdict, Juris Publishing/New York (Supp 2003) and has written more than 50 articles published in law journals and nationally circulated periodicals. Ray has also served as a legal consultant to the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and USA Today, and has been interviewed by CNN, NBC News and other televised programs.
His latest book, Conspiracy Ignited—a legal thriller—published by Amphorae Publishing Group, has been awarded the 2024 Clue Award for First Place Thriller/Suspense Fiction by Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs), “Legal Thriller of the Year” by The BestThrillers.com Book Awards, a Top-Ten Selection of the International Clive Cussler Adventure Writer’s Competition, and other book awards. Please see www.RaymondPaulJohnson.com for additional background.
Featured Work
CONSPIRACY IGNITED
Inspired by actual events from combat, CIA experiences and the world of high-stakes litigation, Conspiracy Ignited is a multiple award-winning thriller about the battle between good and evil and what happens when it all gets personal.
Ordered to drop a case, bashed over the head and tossed into the cold, dark water of a Los Angeles marina, combat veteran turned litigator Eric Ridge struggles to stay alive—and discover who is trying to kill him. And why.
No matter the answer, one thing is certain: Eric Ridge does not abandon his clients and will not drop the case. The question is, what case was his attacker yelling about?
Working with his legal team—including his computer-whiz wife and his best-friend investigator—Ridge is ultimately drawn into the sinister world of the Raven Society, a secretive cabal that controls courts by coercing or killing judges. And anyone else who gets in their way.
In a race against the clock, will Ridge and his team survive to use the evidence they’ve developed? Or will they suffer the same fate as others who have dared to confront The Raven Society?
