Associate Professor Michael Pressman joins Utah Law as a new faculty member this upcoming academic year. He comes as a recent postdoctoral fellow and lecturer on law at Harvard Law School’s Project on the Foundations of Private of Law.
“I am so looking forward to getting to know my colleagues on the faculty, SJQ students, and Utah on the whole. I cannot wait to explore Salt Lake City itself and all the amazing outdoors that lie at its doorstep!” Pressman says.
Pressman went to law school at Stanford University and afterward pursued a doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Southern California. His passion is private law theory—particularly tort theory and contract theory.
“What excites me most are questions and puzzles pertaining to remedies and damages measures in torts and contracts. I love wrestling with tricky questions about fairness and efficiency in the context of private law remedies. While countless such puzzles exist, two that have grabbed my attention recently have been about how we should take into account various forms of baseline risk levels in tort law, and how tort law should value lost life-years,” Pressman says.
While Pressman declares that “the view from the law school is the best in all of legal academia,” he also likes Utah Law’s friendly and engaging community.
“Every interaction I had during the interview process made it seem like an absolutely ideal community to be a part of. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, engaged, and working on very interesting things!” Pressman says. “I also find the small size of the faculty and student body to be a very appealing feature. It seems as though one will truly be able to get to know and develop relationships with everyone in the community.”
Pressman will be teaching in the Master of Legal Studies program.
“The introduction and development of the MLS program at Utah Law in recent years makes this a particularly exciting time, and I could not be more excited about teaching in the MLS program! MLS students come with real-world experience from various sectors, and I am looking forward to helping them develop the legal skills, tools, and knowledge to pursue their unique goals,” Pressman says.
Outside of work, Pressman enjoys playing and following sports—especially basketball and tennis. He looks forward to becoming a Utah Ute fan as well.
“While I follow most sports (professional and college), I am an especially big fan of the NBA. I watch almost every Golden State Warriors game, and I am a huge Steph Curry fan,” Pressman says. “I also like to work out and hike, and I’m very excited about all of the amazing opportunities in Utah to enjoy the outdoors.”