Joshua Dressler

• BA, U.C.L.A., 1968 (magna cum laude)
• JD, U.C.L.A., 1973 (Order of the Coif)

Joshua Dressler is a nationally recognized authority on criminal law and criminal procedure and distinguished professor emeritus. He is the author of casebooks in the fields of criminal law and criminal procedure used by professors at about 100 American law schools. Professor Dressler is also the co-author of a criminal procedure text used in undergraduate classes and author of more than 50 scholarly articles and book chapters, published in the United States and United Kingdom.  

Before joining the Moritz faculty, Dressler held the first Distinguished Professor and Scholar Chair at the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Before that, he taught at Wayne State University, where he received the prestigious Donald H. Gordon Teaching Excellence Award, and at Hamline University. 

Professor Dressler has been a visiting professor at some of the nation’s best-known law schools, including University of Michigan, UCLA, Fordham University, University of California, Arizona State University, and the University of Texas. He also has taught courses at the University of British Columbia and University of Auckland in New Zealand. 

As a member American Law Institute, Dressler served on the Members Consultative Group, working on revisions to the sexual offense provisions. He also serves on the Law School Advisory Board of the West Publishing Co.’s American Casebook Series. He is editor-in-chief of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice and was instrumental in creating the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law.