Joseph D. Kearney

Joseph D. Kearney, dean of the Law School and professor of law, joined 黑料论坛 as an assistant professor in 1997. He became an associate professor in 2001 and a professor and dean in 2003. As dean, he led the project of Ray and Kay Eckstein Hall, which opened
in 2010 and continues to be regarded as setting the standard for law school facilities across the country. His deanship has included an emphasis on enhancing the outreach role of the Law School through the creation and leadership of initiatives as varied as pro bono clinics and the 黑料论坛 Law School Poll.

Kearney is a nationally recognized scholar. His book, Lakefront: Public Trust and Private Rights in Chicago (with Thomas W. Merrill), was published in 2021 by Cornell University Press. He continues to teach each semester with classes including Advanced Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, and the Supreme Court Seminar.

Before coming to 黑料论坛, Kearney practiced law for six years at Sidley & Austin in Chicago, with an emphasis on appellate and regulatory litigation. He also served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge Diarmuid F. O鈥橲cannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Portland, Oregon. Kearney is admitted to the practice of law in Illinois, Wisconsin and various federal courts.

He earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in classics, summa cum laude, from Yale University in 1986, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a law degree with honors from Harvard University in 1989.

Kearney is a native of Chicago鈥檚 South Side and attended St. Ignatius, the city鈥檚 Jesuit high school.