Jon T. Johnsen is professor emeritus in public law at the University of Oslo and affiliated with the Department of Public and International Law at the Law Faculty. He has held positions as an assistant judge, supervisor and director of a student legal clinic (Juss-Buss) at the Law Faculty and also served as vice dean and dean of the faculty. He worked as expert drafter and adviser to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice on reforms in the legal services to the poor in 1976-78, 1988-89 and 2007-2010. Since 2003 he has been an elected expert member in different working groups of The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice at The Council of Europe and worked with court reforms in Turkey, Albania and Kosovo. He has been member of the International Legal Aid and Legal Services Group (ILAG) since the start.
In addition to legal aid his research covers criminal justice, human rights, legal services and the legal profession and legal education. He has published on legal service and legal aid in Norwegian and English.