About Mark
Mark McKenna builds a career at the intersection of law and technology. He moves between classrooms, research centers and a small firm office. Colleagues describe him as methodical. Students know him as exacting.
McKenna earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1997. He then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, receiving his J.D. in 2000. Those credentials framed an early path into private practice and then into academia.
He began his professional life at Pattishall McAuliffe in 2000, working as a lawyer in a practice known for intellectual property work. Three years later he shifted to teaching, joining Saint Louis University as an assistant professor of law in 2003. That move marked the start of a sustained academic trajectory that combined scholarship, teaching and administrative responsibility.
Over the next decade and a half McKenna advanced through a range of academic appointments. In 2018 he returned to Notre Dame Law School as the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law. The named chair reflected an established record as a faculty member and scholar. In 2021 he moved to the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, where he took the title of Professor of Law and became Faculty Co-Director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy.
Also in 2021 McKenna took on a role in private practice as of counsel at Lex Lumina PLLC. That position ties his academic interests to practical and consultative work outside the academy. He has balanced teaching and institutional leadership with advising clients and participating in policy discussions.
Across his career McKenna has concentrated on legal issues raised by new technologies and the regulation of information. His work examines how courts, agencies and lawmakers respond when technology changes the shape of disputes and public policy. He teaches courses that bring doctrinal law into conversation with empirical and policy concerns.
Today he splits his time between UCLA Law, the Institute for Technology, Law & Policy and his of counsel role. He continues to teach, write and advise on questions of technology law and policy, and he concentrates his practice on those areas in both academic and consultative settings.
