John H. Bryan / Civil Rights Attorney, Constitutional Activist, Youtuber
John H. Bryan has been practicing law in West Virginia since 2006, focused on federal civil rights litigation, representing plaintiffs in section 1983 actions against government defendants in cases involving allegations of constitutional violations of individual rights – primarily involving police interactions.
His YouTube channel, “The Civil Rights Lawyer,” with over One Million subscribers, regularly publishes video content informing and educating the public about civil rights topics. Focusing on individual police interactions nationwide, combining elements of storytelling, investigative journalism and legal analysis, his videos have amassed over 375,000,000 views since 2020.
Beyond just information and education, his videos have helped to bring meaningful change and government accountability in communities across the country, resulting in increased transparency, public awareness and civil rights protections for citizens. John was a 2024 recipient of The Governor’s Civil Rights Day Award, “for extraordinary service to the citizens of West Virginia in the battle for absolute equality and civil rights for all.”
John received an undergraduate degree in Political Science at the University of Central Florida, where he was the defense captain of the nationally ranked UCF Trial Team, winner of the prestigious Yale Invitational Mock Trial Tournament. He attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the national moot court team and was awarded the Gressman and Pollitt Award for outstanding oral advocacy.
While in law school, spent a year defending juveniles in Durham, North Carolina with UNC’s criminal law clinic. John also worked as an assistant prosecutor for misdemeanor crimes in Raleigh, North Carolina, trying over thirty criminal cases to verdict. In what would direct the course of his career, John was selected for, and completed, a prestigious civil rights law internship at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, in Washington D.C., where he helped perform field investigations of police officers and agencies on location throughout the nation.
During his legal career in West Virginia, he obtained one of the only-known cases of a federal jury verdict being overturned in favor of a civil rights plaintiff, based on video evidence of police misconduct. Together with the Institute for Justice, he litigated one of the few Section 1983 cases to successfully deprive a judge of judicial immunity, creating new case law on an important civil rights issue. He forced the recognition of the knock and announce rule in West Virginia law enforcement training materials, after litigating the first no-knock raid Section 1983 lawsuit in West Virginia.
John lives in the small town of Union, West Virginia, with Julie, his wife of 20 years, and their two children. John is also an amateur historian, antique gun collector and member of the prestigious Kentucky Rifle Association. Some of his original American firearms have been displayed in museums, such as the Fort Pitt Museum at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, the Rockford Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as well as the National Museum of the United States Army, in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He is also currently in the process of restoring and preserving the only known surviving Revolutionary War frontier log fort still standing in its original location.
Law Practice Phone: (304) 772-4999
West Virginia Law Practice Email: jhb@johnbryanlaw.com
YouTube Specific Inquiries/Submissions: thecivilrightslawyer@gmail.com