William McGeveran
- Dean
- William S. Pattee Professor of Law
Degrees
- Carleton College, B.A.
- New York University, J.D.
Expertise
- Business Law
- Civil Procedure
- Data Security
- Intellectual Property
- Internet Law
William McGeveran joined the faculty in 2006 and was named the twelfth dean of the Law School in 2024. He previously served as the interim dean and the associate dean for academic affairs.
Dean McGeveran’s scholarship focuses on information law, especially data privacy, intellectual property, communications and technology, and free speech. He is a highly cited scholar in those fields, particularly in his work on commercial privacy regulation and on the intersection of trademark law and free expression. McGeveran is the sole author of a casebook, Privacy and Data Protection Law, used by instructors at dozens of law schools, and he regularly teaches a Data Privacy course at Minnesota Law. His previous teaching includes Civil Procedure I and II, Trademark Law, and Law in Practice.
Dean McGeveran belongs to the advisory boards of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Future of Privacy Forum. He served as the first reporter for the Uniform Law Commission’s Uniform Personal Data Protection Act and he has been a resident fellow at the University of Minnesota Institute of Advanced Study and a visiting professor at University College Dublin School of Law. He frequently speaks to the media, submits amicus briefs, works with policymakers, and teaches continuing legal education courses in his specialty areas.
Dean McGeveran earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from New York University and a B.A., magna cum laude, in political science from Carleton College. Prior to joining Minnesota Law, he was a resident fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. He previously clerked for Judge Sandra Lynch on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and practiced as an intellectual property litigator at Foley Hoag LLP in Boston. Before law school, Dean McGeveran worked in national politics for seven years, primarily as a senior legislative aide to then-Rep. Charles Schumer. He grew up in New York City and still roots for the Yankees.
