Michael S. McGinniss

 

Michael S. McGinniss

Assistant Professor of Law
mcginniss@law.und.edu

 

Michael S. McGinniss is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where he teaches courses on Professional Responsibility, Evidence, Conflict of Laws, and Lawyering Skills. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English (summa cum laude and first in his class) at Washington College. He received his legal education at the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, where he graduated third in his class and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. At William & Mary, Professor McGinniss was a member of the Board of Editors of the William & Mary Law Review and a Graduate Research Fellow. Upon graduation from law school, he served as the law clerk for Honorable Randy J. Holland of the Supreme Court of Delaware. He then was associated for four years with the Delaware law firm Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, where his practice focused on intellectual property litigation in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

In 1998, the Supreme Court of Delaware appointed Professor McGinniss to its Office of Disciplinary Counsel (“ODC”), entrusting him with the evaluation, investigation, and prosecution of lawyer disciplinary matters before the Court and its Board on Professional Responsibility. During his twelve years of service as Disciplinary Counsel, he was responsible for hundreds of matters opened by the ODC based on complaints by clients or other members of the public and on referrals from courts, administrative agencies, and other sources. As a result of his prosecutions, the Court issued dozens of published and unpublished decisions imposing disbarments, suspensions, public reprimands, and private sanctions on lawyers within its disciplinary jurisdiction. His prosecutions also included petitions for expedited proceedings where immediate action by the Court concerning a lawyer’s practice was necessary in order to protect the public, such as cases in which there was evidence a lawyer had misappropriated client funds. At ODC, he was also responsible for evaluating, investigating and prosecuting matters involving the unauthorized practice of law by non-lawyers, see, e.g., In re Arons, 756 A.2d 867 (Del. 2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 1065 (2001), and presenting hearings before the Board of Bar Examiners involving the character and fitness of applicants to the Delaware Bar. Professor McGinniss has made dozens of continuing legal education presentations and speaking appearances before lawyers and judges in order to promote a culture of professionalism and an ongoing understanding by lawyers of their ethical obligations. In 2006, he joined the adjunct faculty of the Widener University of School of Law, where he taught Professional Responsibility and upper-level Legal Methods courses. He is a member of the bars of Delaware, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, and the United States Supreme Court.

Professor McGinniss’ current research and scholarship interests include the relationships between courts and lawyer disciplinary agencies, choice of law for rules governing a lawyer’s ethical obligations, and questions concerning the professional, ethical and moral responsibilities of lawyers. In June 2011, he presented the Mart Vogel Lecture on Professionalism and Legal Ethics at the SBAND Annual Meeting in Fargo, in a lecture entitled Virtue Ethics, Earnestness and the Deciding Lawyer: Human Flourishing in a Legal Community, which will be published in Volume 87 of the North Dakota Law Review. He has also published legal scholarship addressing the regulation of multi-jurisdictional practice and the unauthorized practice of law. See Five Years Later: The Delaware Experience With Multi-Jurisdictional Practice, 10 Del. L. Rev. 125 (2008); The Unauthorized Practice of Law, in History of the Delaware Bar From 1995 Through 2010 255 (Michael F. McTaggart ed. 2011); Unauthorized Practice of Law, in Delaware Supreme Court Golden Anniversary 1951-2001 425 (Randy J. Holland and Helen L. Winslow, eds. 2001).

EDUCATION

College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Williamsburg, Virginia
Juris Doctor, 1993
Graduated Third in Class
Honors: Order of the Coif; Board of Editors, William & Mary Law Review; American Jurisprudence Awards in Contracts I and Torts I and II Served as a Graduate Research Fellow, assisting Professors Neal E. Devins (constitutional law) and Jayne W. Barnard (corporate law)

Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland
B.A., Summa Cum Laude, English, 1990
Graduated First in Class; awarded George Washington Medal.

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

University of North Dakota School of Law, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Assistant Professor (July 2010 – present)
Courses: Professional Responsibility (2010-2011), Evidence (2010-2011), Conflict of Laws (2011-2012), Lawyering Skills II (Spring 2012).

Widener University School of Law, Wilmington, Delaware
Adjunct Professor (2006-2010)
Courses: Professional Responsibility; Legal Methods III

PUBLICATIONS

Virtue Ethics, Earnestness and the Deciding Lawyer: Human Flourishing in a Legal Community, 87 N.D. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2011)

The Unauthorized Practice of Law, in History of the Delaware Bar from 1995 through 2010 255 (Michael F. McTaggart ed. 2011)

Five Years Later: The Delaware Experience With Multi-Jurisdictional Practice, 10 Del. L. Rev. 125 (2008)

Unauthorized Practice of Law, in Delaware Supreme Court Golden Anniversary 1951-2001 425 (Randy J. Holland and Helen L. Winslow, eds. 2001)

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

Virtue Ethics, Earnestness and the Deciding Lawyer: Human Flourishing in a Legal Community
2011 Mart Vogel Lecture on Professionalism and Legal Ethics, 112th Annual Meeting, State Bar Association of North Dakota
Fargo, ND (June 17, 2011)

The North Dakota Lawyer Discipline Process
Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of North Dakota
Bismarck, ND (Mar. 4, 2011)

Passing Over Borders and Crossing Ethical Boundaries: Multi-Jurisdictional Practice and Other Current Developments in Lawyer Regulation in North Dakota
UND Homecoming CLE, University of North Dakota School of Law
Grand Forks, ND (Oct. 8, 2010)

Federal Courts As ‘Watchmen’ Over State-Licensed Lawyers: An Analysis of Judicial Reporting of Lawyer Misconduct in the Eighth Circuit
Central States Law Schools Association Annual Conference, University of North Dakota School of Law
Grand Forks, ND (Sept. 25, 2010)

The Ethics of Client Protection for Sole Practitioners
29th American Bar Association National Conference on Professional Responsibility
Chicago, IL (May 30, 2003)

INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE

Member, Academic Affairs Committee (2011-2012)
Member, Diversity Committee (2011-2012)
Member, UND University Senate (2011-2012)
Member, Building Project Working Group (2011-present)
Member, Library Committee (2010-2011)
Advisor, UND School of Law Federalist Society (2010-present)
Coach, External Competition Moot Court Teams (2010-present)
Judge, Moot Court Intramural Competition (2010)

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware
Disciplinary Counsel (1998-2010)
Responsible for the evaluation, investigation, and prosecution of matters involving lawyer discipline and the unauthorized practice of law, and the investigation and presentation of character and fitness issues in matters before the Board of Bar Examiners.

Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, Delaware, Associate (1994-1998)
Assisted in the preparation of intellectual property litigation matters for trial in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Prepared pleadings and briefs and researched numerous issues of law involving intellectual property matters, as well as insurance coverage and corporate litigation in the state courts.

Supreme Court of Delaware
Law Clerk for Justice Randy J. Holland (1993-1994)

BAR ADMISSIONS

Delaware (1993)
United States District Court for the District of Delaware (1995)
United States Supreme Court (2000)

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

American Bar Association, Center on Professional Responsibility
National Organization of Bar Counsel (1998-2010)
Pro Bono Inn of Court (2008-2010)