About Us

Following a clerkship with the former Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Christopher Johns accepted a position at the law firm of Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon. Mr. Johns worked at Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon's San Francisco and Lakeport offices, trying numerous cases to a jury. After several years with the Bronson firm, Mr. Johns struck out on his own, founding the firm in 1983. Mr. Johns has handled a wide variety of complex matters, including aviation matters, bodily injury and property damage cases, as well as contract and business disputes. Mr. Johns' primary focus, however, has been insurance law. He has handled insurance­related matters in both the first and third party context, including insurance coverage analyses, subrogation, contribution, insurance coverage litigation and bad faith.

Burton C. Allyn, IV ("Skip") specializes in insurance coverage, construction law, copyright, and design professional transactional matters. He represents insurance companies and policyholders in insurance coverage and bad faith disputes; developers, contractors, and owners with development and construction issues; small to medium-sized design professional firms; and copyright owners. Mr. Allyn has litigated and resolved complex insurance matters with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, simpler matters involving minor disputes, and everything in between. Mr. Allyn is a specialist in asbestos coverage and employee disability coverage under Social Security law and under ERSA and non-ERISA plans. In his design professional transactional practice, Mr. Allyn’s clients include small to medium sized architectural and engineering firms located in San Francisco, the East Bay, and the North Bay. Mr. Allyn represents design professionals in professional liability disputes and is an expert in professional liability insurance coverage. Mr. Allyn joined Johns & Allyn in 1999 after twenty years of practicing law in San Francisco, most recently as a partner with Long & Levit.”