Professor Michael Oswalt has been named as Wayne State University Law School’s next Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, following Professors Jonathan Weinberg and Christopher Lund.

An expert in labor law, Dean Oswalt came to Wayne Law in 2022 from Northern Illinois University College of Law.  He combines a strong academic background with a set of rich experiences in legal practice—most notably four years in the Office of the General Counsel at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and a clerkship with then-judge Sonia Sotomayor when she served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  

Since entering academia, Dean Oswalt has become an influential scholar known nationwide, publishing articles in top law reviews and faculty-edited journals like the California Law Review, Law and Contemporary Problems, the Minnesota Law Review, and the U.C. Davis Law Review, and also co-authoring two casebooks.  Several of his pieces have been featured in Jotwell, a forum for top scholars to review important new scholarly work.  He has also written shorter pieces for a wide variety of outlets, including the American Constitution Society, the Law and Political Economy Blog, and Huffpost.