Deborah Johnson

Professor Deborah L. Johnson joined the faculty at the University of Maine School of Law in 2023, where she teaches and writes in the areas of insurance law, cybersecurity, and commercial law. She also serves as an instructor in Maine Law’s compliance program. Her teaching draws on her experience in legal practice and the insurance industry to connect legal doctrine to real-world questions of risk, governance, and organizational decision-making.

Johnson’s scholarship examines how legal and market institutions manage risk and shape resilience in the face of technological and economic change. Her ongoing research focuses on commercial insurance as a form of market infrastructure and the role insurance markets play in shaping economic opportunity, business resilience, and recovery from loss. Her recent work further explores cyber insurance as a form of private governance and the implications for national security.

Before joining Maine Law, Johnson was a visiting assistant professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law and previously served on the faculty at Northeastern University School of Law, where she taught legal research and writing in the Legal Skills in Social Context program. She also served for eight years as director of diversity and outreach at Roger Williams University School of Law, where she led initiatives related to student access and institutional engagement—an experience that continues to shape her perspective on legal education.

Johnson began her career as a law clerk to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California and later practiced as a commercial litigator at Mintz Levin, focusing on complex insurance and business disputes. She also held roles in the insurance industry at Travelers and Resolute Management, where she worked on insurance coverage and complex claims.