M. Margaret McKeown

Judge McKeown was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Clinton and was confirmed by the United States Senate in 1998. She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and holds an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University. Before her appointment, Judge McKeown was the first female partner at Perkins Coie in Seattle and was co-founder of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. She served as a White House Fellow where she worked as a Special Assistant for domestic policy.

Judge McKeown has lectured and taught extensively on intellectual property, international law, human rights law, litigation, ethics, judicial administration, and constitutional law in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Judge McKeown teaches international internet and intellectual property law.

Judge McKeown is on the board of the World Justice Project and is Vice Chair of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative and a current special advisor. She is a member of the US Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability. Judge McKeown chairs the Ninth Circuit Workplace Environment Committee and is a member of the National Workplace Conduct Working Group. She is on the Council of the American Law Institute, the Judicial Advisory Board of the American Society of International Law, and the editorial board of Litigation magazine. Judge McKeown served as Chair of the ABA Commission on the 19th Amendment, past President of the Federal Judges Association, and former chair of the US Judicial Conference Codes of Conduct Committee (ethics). Judge McKeown currently serves as an advisor on the American Law Institute Restatement projects on copyright, artificial intelligence, and the law of foreign relations. Judge McKeown has received a number of prestigious awards, including the American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Ethics and Professionalism Award, the ABA Margaret Brent Women of Achievement Award, the ABA John Marshall Award, the Georgetown University John Carrol Award, the Georgetown University Law Center Drinan Award for Public Service, the California Bar Intellectual Property Vanguard Award, the University of Wyoming A & S Outstanding Alumnae, the Outstanding Mentor Award from Big Sisters, the Federal Bar Association Community Service Award, and the Girl Scouts “Cool Women” Award. Judge McKeown is the author of Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas—Public Advocate and Conservation Champion (2022).