Plano, TX—Prominently featured in The Inner Circle, Tonya L. Johannsen is acknowledged as a Pinnacle Platinum Attorney of the Year for her contributions to the Legal Field as a Premier Counselor.
Ms. Johannsen pursued higher education at Eastern New Mexico University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Teacher Education. While she worked four years teaching 9th-grade English and was encouraged to move into educational administration, she was inspired instead to pursue her childhood dream of being a lawyer. Ms. Johannsen entered the Texas Tech University School of Law and earned her Juris Doctor in 1983. She became certified by the Texas and American Bar Associations and began a position as a litigation associate. Serving as an associate until 1990, she became an equity shareholder at Winstead PC followed by achieving a partnership at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld in 1998. The attorney worked as General Counsel for the Beck Group from 2008-2019 and asserts that she was previously a respected member of Counsel at Estes Thorne & Carr PLLC from 2019-2021. In this capacity, she strengthened the financial services practice group by increasing the client base, managing liability, and by providing legal strategies.
Known for her storytelling abilities, simplifying complex issues in a way that clients, judges, and juries can understand and to which they can relate, Ms. Johannsen specializes in cases involving the construction and banking industries. In the field for more than 30 years, she started a new role at Canterbury Law in Dallas, TX, in 2021, which she noted is a nationally recognized leader in the construction legal industry. According to the attorney, Canterbury Law is known for its work in the fields of construction; corporate law; commercial real estate; trucking and transportation; and alternative dispute resolution.
Touting an exceptional career, Ms. Johannsen has received numerous awards, including being named one of the 100 Best Litigators by Dallas Business Lawyers in 1996; being the recipient of a Fellowship with the Construction Lawyers Society of America in 1997; an honoree of the National Diversity Lawyer’s Council; the 2019 Outstanding Alumni Award by the Texas Tech School of Law; the Dallas Bar Association’s “Inspiring Woman” award; Digital Magazine’s Top Attorney of the Year 2021; and inclusion in D Magazine’s 2020 and 2021 list of Best Lawyers for Construction and Commercial Litigation. She has been an AV Preeminent Rated Attorney for more than 25 years.
For more information about Ms. Johannsen and her services, please visit https://www.canterburylaw.com.
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