Legal and Ethical Issues Confronting Museums

Professor Thomas F. Cotter joined the University of Minnesota Law School faculty in 2006. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and in 1987 graduated magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he served as Senior Articles Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

From 1987-89, Professor Cotter clerked for the Honorable Lawrence W. Pierce, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He practiced law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City from 1988-90, and at Jenner & Block in Chicago from 1990-94. From 1994-2005, he taught at the University of Florida College of Law, where he held a University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship and directed the school's Intellectual Property Law Program. From 2005-06, he was a Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law. In 2007, he was named to a two-year Solly Robins Distinguished Research Fellowship at the University of Minnesota Law School, and in 2008 was appointed to the Briggs and Morgan (later renamed to the Taft Stettinius & Hollister) Chair in Law.

Professor Cotter's principal research and teaching interests are in the fields of domestic and international intellectual property law, antitrust, law and economics, and art law. He has authored, coauthored, or co-edited several books—including Remedies in Intellectual Property Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2026); Wrongful Patent Assertion:  A Comparative Law and Economics Analysis (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2026); FRAND: German Case Law and Global Perspectives (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024) (coedited with Peter Georg Picht and Erik Habich); Patent Wars:  How Patents Impact Our Daily Lives (Oxford Univ. Press 2018); Comparative Patent Remedies: A Legal and Economic Analysis (Oxford University Press 2013); and Intellectual Property: Economic and Legal Dimensions of Rights and Remedies (with Roger D. Blair) (Cambridge University Press 2005)—and over seventy  other articles, essays, and book chapters. He also publishes a blog, ComparativePatentRemedies.com, on the law (both foreign and domestic) and economics of patent remedies. Professor Cotter was elected to the American Law Institute in 2019.

After earning a B.A. in History from the University of Minnesota, John attended the Cooperstown Graduate Program at SUNY-Oneonta for an M.A. degree in History Museum Studies. 

John served in various positions at the Minnesota Historical Society for 28 years, including Director of Historic Sites & Museums where he oversaw the network of 31 state historic sites; and as Director of the Mill City Museum in its earliest years when co-founded the Mill City Farmers Market.

John has been Executive Director of Hennepin History Museum since 2019. His tenure has been focused on finding new partners for a variety of program initiatives, stabilizing the financial situation, and reframing the museum’s mission statement. He also serves on the boards of Preserve Minneapolis, the State Grange of Minnesota, and the Mount Olive Lutheran Church foundation.

Alejandra Peña Gutiérrez has been working for 30 years as a visual art and museum professional. Her career started in Mexico City where she worked at various museums before she became director of the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes. She was Deputy Director General of the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico before she moved to Puerto Rico to work at the Museo de Arte de Ponce, where she was the director from 2013 to 2021. She is currently the director of the Weisman Art Museum of the University of Minnesota. 

Peña Gutiérrez has been a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors since 2014; she was also a Board Member of the US National Committee for the International Council of Museums (ICOM) from 2018 to 2024, where she was Co-Chair of the Programing Committee and then Co-Chair of the Membership Committee. From 2020 to 2023, Peña was also a member of the “Disaster Risk Management Standing Committee” that advises the Executive Board and Advisory Council of ICOM General. Since 2023 she has been a Member of the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable. 

Kevin Tervala is Mia’s Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Exhibitions. Tervala leads Mia’s curatorial division, overseeing curatorial departments, collections, exhibitions, acquisitions, and scholarship while helping shape the museum’s long-term artistic direction. Before joining Mia, he was the Chief Curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where he was a key member of the leadership team. During his tenure there, he led a multidisciplinary curatorial division of nearly 50 staff across 10 departments, overseeing exhibitions, collections, acquisitions, scholarship, and strategic planning. His leadership has helped shape innovative gallery reinstallations and major exhibitions while advancing the museum's long-term artistic vision.