Margaret McGuinness

Peggy McGuinness joined the St. John’s faculty in 2010. Her course offerings include international human rights, international business transactions, conflicts of law and international dispute resolution.

Professor McGuinness graduated with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she was an articles editor for the Stanford Law Review and a graduate fellow at the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation. Afterwards, she clerked for Judge Colleen McMahon in the Southern District of New York and worked as a litigator for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Her career in the law follows an early career as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, which included service in Germany, Pakistan and Canada, and as a Special Assistant to Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

With scholarly interests and expertise in international law and international human rights law, Professor McGuinness has published on the subjects of international human rights law, international security and the resolution of armed conflict, and the role and influence of international law in U.S. courts. She is a member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. She co-founded −and regularly contributes to− Opinio Juris, the leading international law blog.

Professor McGuinness previously taught at the University of Missouri School of Law. She has also been a visiting professor at the University of Georgia and Temple University, and a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.