Joshua Dressler

Frank R. Strong Chair in Law

Joshua Dressler, who holds the Frank R. Strong Chair in Law, is one of the country's most respected authorities on the subjects of criminal law and criminal procedure. Before joining the Moritz faculty in 2001, Dressler held the first Distinguished Professor and Scholar Chair at the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where he was also honored with the University Eberhardt Teaching and Scholar Award. Before that, he taught at Wayne State University, where he received the prestigious Donald H. Gordon Teaching Excellence Award, and at Hamline University, at which he received the Best Professor award from the student body. He also won the Outstanding 1L Professor award from students at the University of California, Los Angeles (1984) and Moritz (2011-2012).

Due to Dressler's international renown, he has been a Visiting Professor at some of the nation's best known law schools, including University of Michigan, University of California, UCLA, Fordham University, University of California at Davis, and the University of Iowa, and has also taught courses at the University of British Columbia, Seattle University, and University of Auckland in New Zealand.

In 2005, Dressler received the honor of giving a University Distinguished Lecture, on the subject of battered women, to the Ohio State University community. And, in 2007, he received a University Distinguished Scholar Award.

Dressler's scholarship is substantial. He is the author of casebooks in the fields of criminal and criminal procedure, the former of which is now used by professors at about 120 American law schools. His treatises in the field are frequently cited by scholars and courts. He is also the author of more than fifty scholarly articles and book chapters, published in the United State and United Kingdom. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, and was instrumental in creating the respected Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, of which he now serves as co-editor.

As a member of the prestigious American Law Institute, he presently serves on the Members Consultative Group working on revisions to the Model Penal Code sentencing provisions. He also serves on the Law School Advisory Board of the Thomson-West Publishing Company's American Casebook Series.

Dressler is a frequent invited speaker at law schools and conferences throughout this country, the United Kingdom, and Europe. He is also frequently called upon by local, national, and international media to comment on important criminal justice matters.

Professor Dressler's Podcasts

Arizona v. Gant Preview

Issues: Search and seizure
Podcast Series: U.S. Supreme Court
Date: Oct. 8, 2008

Herring v. U.S.

Issues: 4th Amendment; exclusionary rule
Podcast Series: U.S. Supreme Court
Date: Oct. 8, 2008

Scott, Timothy v. Harris, Victor

Issues: 4th Amendment, High-Speed Police Chase
Podcast Series: U.S. Supreme Court
Date: June 19, 2007

Brendlin, Bruce v. California

Issues: 4th Amendment Search Seizure, Standing
Podcast Series: U.S. Supreme Court
Date: June 19, 2007