M. Margaret McKeown

M. MARGARET MCKEOWN has served for over 20 years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the largest and one of the most influential federal courts of appeal in the United States. She is also an adjunct law professor at Northwestern University School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law and a frequent public speaker. A Wyoming native, she served in Congress as an aide to U.S. Senator Clifford P. Hansen from Wyoming. As a White House Fellow, she served as Special Assistant at the White House and as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Interior. Before joining the bench, she was a partner in the Seattle and Washington, DC offices of the Perkins Coie law firm. She has long been involved in judicial ethics, serving for ten years and as chair of the ethics committee for federal judges and as a drafter of ethics codes for judges around the world. She lectures internationally on judicial independence, ethics, women’s rights, and constitutional law. She chairs the Georgetown Law School Board of Visitors and the ABA Rule of Law Initiative and is on the board of the International Association for Women Judges. She also chairs the Murie Ranch advisory committee of the Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming. She is an avid hiker and kayaker and was a member of the first American mountain climbing expedition to Mt. Shishapangma in Tibet.