Dr. Richard J. McLaughlin

Dr. McLaughlin is the Harte Research Institute’s Endowed Chair of Marine Policy and Law. As a professor, McLaughlin has lectured at leading academic institutions throughout the world including Cambridge University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Hawaii, University of Miami, University of Oregon, University of Belize and the University of West Indies in Barbados. From 1987-2005, Dr. McLaughlin was Professor of Law and Ray and Louise Stewart Lecturer at the University of Mississippi School of Law where he regularly taught International Law, Property Law, Ocean and Coastal Law, International Environmental Law, Admiralty and other courses. As Director of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program from 1987-99, he provided legal research and advice on a wide range of Gulf of Mexico issues to state officials and coastal constituents. From 1996-05 he served as Founder and Director of the Hawaii Summer Law Program, an ABA accredited program located at the University of Hawaii attended annually by 90-100 law students from across the U.S. and Canada. In 2000, as Co-Principal Investigator and Interim Director, he successfully led the effort to obtain a $2 million grant from NASA to establish the National Remote Sensing and Space Law Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law. A graduate of Tulane University Law School and the University of Washington School of Law, he holds a doctorate degree in law from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley. He has been actively involved in a variety of leadership positions in the marine policy field including National Chair of the Maritime Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, Board Member of the Law of the Sea Institute, National Co-Chair of the Marine Affairs and Policy Association, and Board of Editors of the Territorial Sea Journal. A former Fulbright Scholar to Japan, he has published over fifty articles and monographs on ocean and coastal policy issues.