William McGeveran

William McGeveran

  • Interim Dean
  • Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett Professor of Law
381 Mondale Hall

Degrees

  • Carleton College, B.A.
  • New York University, J.D.

Expertise

  • Business Law
  • Civil Procedure
  • Data Security
  • Intellectual Property
  • Internet Law
Show all

Interim Dean William McGeveran specializes in information law, including data privacy, intellectual property, communications and technology, and free speech. His scholarship focuses on legal and other rules governing digital identity and privacy, ranging from online impersonation to data security to social media. Additional aspects of his research include modernizing trademark law, comparing European and American approaches to data protection, and evaluating techniques used by privacy regulators.

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. He also teaches Trademark Law, Civil Procedure I and II, and Law in Practice. McGeveran served as Minnesota Law’s associate dean for academic affairs from 2018-2022. 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, and he is an affiliated professor at the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

He frequently uses Twitter (as @BillMcGev), comments in the media, works with policymakers, and teaches continuing education courses. He belongs to the advisory boards for the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Future of Privacy Forum, and served as the first reporter for the Uniform Law Commission’s Uniform Personal Data Protection Act.

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 coming to the University of Minnesota in 2006, McGeveran 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, McGeveran worked in national politics for seven years, including as a senior legislative aide to then-Rep. Charles Schumer. He grew up in New York City and still roots for the Yankees.

Data Privacy Law


Data Compliance Practicum


Books

Privacy and Data Protection Law (Foundation Press, 2016; 2d ed., 2023)

Journal Articles

Catalyzing Privacy Law, 105 Minnesota Law Review 1733 (2021)
(with
Anupam Chander
and
Margot E. Kaminski
)
General-Purpose Privacy Regulation and Translational Genomics, 48 Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 142 (2020)
(with
Caroline Schmitz
)
The Duty of Data Security, 103 Minnesota Law Review 1135 (2019)
Selfmarks, 56 Houston Law Review 333 (2018)
Friending the Privacy Regulators, 58 Arizona Law Review 959 (2016)
The Imaginary Trademark Parody Crisis (and the Real One), 90 Washington Law Review 713 (2015)
Confusion Isn't Everything, 89 Notre Dame Law Review 253 (2013)
(with
Mark P. McKenna
)
The Law of Friction, 2013 University of Chicago Legal Forum 15 (2013)
Managing Incidental Findings and Research Results in Genomic Research Involving Biobanks and Archived Data Sets, 14 Genetics in Medicine 361-84 (2012)
(with
and
et al.
)
Deidentification and Reidentification in Returning Individual Findings from Biobank and Secondary Research: Regulatory Challenges and Models for Management, 13 Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology 485 (2012)
(with
Leili Fatehi
and
Pari McGarraugh
)
Mrs. McIntyre's Persona: Bringing Privacy Theory to Election Law, 19 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 859 (2011)
Comment, Life in the Fast Lane: Of Presumptions, Defenses, and Burdens, 1 IP Theory 25 (2010)
The Trademark Fair Use Reform Act, 90 Boston University Law Review 2267 (2010)
Disclosure, Endorsement, and Identity in Social Marketing, 2009 University of Illinois Law Review 1105 (2009)
Four Free Speech Goals for Trademark Law, 18 Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal 1205 (2008)
Rethinking Trademark Fair Use, 94 Iowa Law Review 49 (2008)
Mrs. McIntyre's Checkbook: Privacy Costs of Political Contribution Disclosure, 6 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 1 (2003)
Programmed Privacy Promises: P3P and Web Privacy Law, 76 New York University Law Review 1812 (2001) (note)

Other Publications

The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material in the Digital Age (Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School, 2006)
(with
William W. Fisher
)