Mark Pettit

A dedicated member of the Boston University School of Law faculty since 1977, Mark Pettit has taught thousands of law students in the areas of contracts, evidence and consumer law, and has twice served as associate dean for administration. He was a 1993 recipient of the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest honor for faculty at Boston University.

Professor Pettit says he strives to sharpen students’ analytical abilities, helping them understand a case from every angle. “In the beginning of the semester,” he says, “I ask students a number of questions about an assigned case — questions they’ve never considered. But by the end of the same semester, they’re on a different wave length of inquiry, asking more and more of these questions on their own. That’s when I know I’ve succeeded.”

Among Professor Pettit’s recent publications are “Freedom, Freedom of Contract, and the ‘Rise and Fall,’” for the_Boston University Law Review_ and an essay on teaching contracts in the St. Louis University Law Journal. He also is a former executive editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. His career includes serving as an associate at the New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and a clinical fellow and staff attorney for the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago. He was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in fall 1999 and spring 2001.