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 then went 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. ==Selected publications==