Justin T. Sevier

Professor Sevier’s scholarship focuses on legal institutional design, exploring how people understand and legitimize legal institutions. Drawing on empirical methods, he illuminates how jurors and the public perceive evidence, procedure, and trial outcomes.

Before joining the Florida State law faculty in 2015, Professor Sevier was an associate research scholar at Yale Law School and a visiting assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Law. His scholarship has been published both in law journals—including the Georgetown Law Journal, the Vanderbilt Law Review, and the Minnesota Law Review, among others—and in peer-reviewed publications, including Psychology, Public Policy and Law. Professor Sevier serves frequently as an ad hoc referee for peer-reviewed journals at the intersection of social science and the legal system. He is currently a member of the editorial board of Law and Human Behavior and Law and Social Inquiry.

Professor Sevier practiced litigation at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City, specializing in shareholder derivative actions and corporate governance matters. He also practiced litigation at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where he focused on complex commercial torts. He is a member of the New York State Bar, holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), and holds a Master of Science and Master of Philosophy from Yale University. He clerked for Judge Carlos T. Bea, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Professor Sevier has received numerous teaching accolades. He has received the Law School's Open Door Faculty Teaching Award four times, an annual award given to one professor at the College of Law. He is also the recipient of a University Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, awarded to eight professors across the University. In 2024, he became the first professor at the College of Law to receive the prestigious University Distinguished Teaching Award, presented to one professor each year and constituting the highest teaching honor at Florida State University. He was also selected by the graduating class of 2026 to be their commencement speaker. He teaches courses on evidence, torts, closely held businesses, law and psychology, and the American jury.