Benjamin McMichael

Benjamin McMichael joined the University of Alabama School of Law faculty in 2018. He earned a BS in Mathematical Economics from Wake Forest University and a JD and PhD in law and economics from Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, Benjamin was a University Graduate Fellow and served as an articles editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review.

Before joining the faculty at Alabama, Benjamin completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, where he taught healthcare law and economics. Prior to his fellowship, he served as a law clerk to Judge Carolyn Dineen King on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Benjamin’s research is interdisciplinary, relying on empirical methods developed in the social sciences—particularly economics—to generate new insight into the ways in which the law influences the provision of healthcare. His empirical research has also examined the effect of various state and federal reforms on punitive damages awards. Benjamin’s scholarship has appeared or will appear in the Stanford Law Review, the University of Illinois Law Review, the Lewis & Clark Law Review, the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, and the Southern Economic Journal.

Areas of Expertise:

• Health Law
• Law and Economics
• Torts

Education

Ph.D., Law and Economics (joint JD/PhD program), Vanderbilt University, 2015

J.D., Vanderbilt University, 2015

B.S., Mathematical Economics, Wake Forest, 2009