Joseph D. Kearney
Joseph Dinneen Kearney is Dean and Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a scholar of civil litigation practice and procedure. Biography. Kearney graduated valedictorian at St. Ignatius College Prep and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 1986 with a B.A. degree in Classics. He proceeded to Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. His 3L thesis was a study of the recusal of judges in medieval Europe. After graduation, he clerked for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain of the U.S.  Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then began practicing in the litigation department of Sidley Austin's Chicago office. He left Sidley for one year to serve as a law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court for the October 1995 term. Kearney has been a professor at the law school since 1997. He teaches courses in civil procedure and appellate practice, and his research focuses on regulated industries law. Appointed as the ninth dean of Marquette Law School in 2003, Kearney leads a full-time faculty of 45 and a student body of  750. In addition to teaching a class and administering the school, Kearney fundraises frequently for Eckstein Hall, the law school's new, $85 million home. Father Robert Wild, S.J., the former president of the university secured a $51 million gift from Ray and Kay Eckstein for the project. Personal life. He is married to the former Anne Berleman, a Milwaukee appellate litigation specialist. Kearney is an avid Chicago White Sox fan.