Kathleen McGinnis

  • Teaching Professor Emeritus of Law

Contact

Email: mcginnis@u.washington.edu

Education

B.A. 1979 Whitworth College J.D. 1984 University of California, Berkeley

Curriculum Vitae

Areas of Expertise

Civil Litigation and Procedure — Federal Courts — First Amendment — Legal Research and Writing

Professor Kathy McGinnis joined the law school faculty in 1997. She teaches Legal Analysis, Research & Writing; Intensive Legal Writing Workshop; Civil Procedure and Civil Procedure II. Her areas of scholarly interest are professional skills development, jurisprudence, and civil procedure.

A member of the Washington Bar, Professor McGinnis practiced law from 1984-94 at Preston, Gates & Ellis in Seattle, concentrating on commercial litigation and antitrust law. Professor McGinnis has directed the summer law clerk program at Lane Powell Spears Lubersky in Seattle, and worked as a freelance legal writing lecturer and consultant for Seattle law firms. Before she joined the faculty full time, Professor McGinnis taught legal writing part-time in 1994-95.

She is a graduate of Whitworth College and Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a member of the California Law Review and the Order of the Coif.

Peer Reviewed Journals & Law Reviews


Professional Publications


  • Speaker, "Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research: Experiential Learning in Legal Writing Programs", with Helen Anderson, Williams S. Bailey, and Ben Halasz, 111th Annual Meeting, Association of American Law Schools (January 5, 2017)
  • Speaker, "Civil Procedure and the U.S. Legal System", Summer Institutes in Transnational Law and Practice, 2005-2012, (September 1, 2012)
  • "Civil Procedure", Summer Institute in Transnational Law and Practice, University of Washington School of Law (September 1, 2007)
  • Speaker, "United States Legal System and Government Regulation of Business in the United States", Summer Institutes in English for Business and Law (SIEBL), 2003-06, University of Washington (August 1, 2006)
  • "Civil Procedure", Summer Institute in Transnational Law and Practice, University of Washington School of Law (September 1, 2005)
  • Speaker, "Restructuring the First-Year Writing Program to Employ Best Practices and Benefit from Scholarship on Adult Learning Theory", Faculty Colloquium, University of Washington School of Law (April 1, 2004)
  • Speaker, "Class Actions in Washington", Washington Appellate Judges’ Spring Program, (March 30, 2004)
  • "The United States Legal System: Government Regulation of Business in the United States", Summer Institute in English for Business and Law, University of Washington (August 1, 2003)
  • "The United States Legal System and Government Regulation of Business in the United States", Summer Institute in English for Business Law, University of Washington (July 18, 2003)
  • "Civil Procedure for the Non-JD", Annual Meeting, American Association of Law Libraries (July 10, 2003)
  • Speaker, "Civil Procedure for the Non-JD", Annual Meeting, American Association of Law Libraries (July 10, 2003)
  • "Guest, The Mark Furhman Show, KXLY Radio (Spokane ABC affiliate) concerning first amendment protections and current Supreme Court developments (December 16, 2002).", (December 16, 2002)
  • "Keys to Summer Associate Success", Seattle Area Law Firm Summer Consortium, (June 1, 2002)
  • "An Approach to Editing Student Law Review Comments", Washington Law Review Editorial Board (May 1, 2002)
  • "Drafting & Revising Transaction Documents", Preston, Gates & Ellis (April 1, 2001)