John McKay Professor from Practice Room 410, Seattle University School of Law Phone: (206) 398-4051 E-mail: jmckay@seattleu.edu

Teaches National Security Law and Constitutional Law of Terrorism

B.A., University of Washington, 1978; J.D., Creighton University, 1982.

John McKay is a Seattle native who grew up on Capitol Hill and attended St. Joseph's Grade School and Seattle Prep High School. Mr. McKay attended the University of Washington, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1978. After working as an aide to Congressman Joel Pritchard (R-WA) in 1978 -79, Mr. McKay earned his law degree at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska in 1982. He was admitted to the Washington State Bar and joined the Seattle law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky in 1982, eventually becoming a litigation partner with that firm. During this time, he was admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

From 1989 to 1990, Mr. McKay served as a White House Fellow, where he worked as a Special Assistant to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C. Mr. McKay then returned to Seattle and joined the law firm of Cairncross & Hempelmann, later becoming the firm's managing partner. Between 1997 and 2001, Mr. McKay served as the President of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in Washington, D.C. Congress established the LSC in 1974 as a private, non-profit corporation to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all low-income Americans. Mr. McKay's tenure at LSC was characterized by a bipartisan approach to working with Congress, driven by a deeply held commitment to the principle of equal justice.

Mr. McKay served as United States Attorney for Western Washington from October 30, 2001, through December 2006. During his legal career, Mr. McKay has taken on leadership responsibilities with the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Washington State Bar Association. He has been a member of both the ABA Board of Governors and House of Delegates, and has served on the Washington State Bar Association's task forces on Opportunities for Minorities in the Legal Profession and on Governance. From 1988 to 1989, he was President of the Washington State Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division. From 1995 to 1996, Mr. McKay served as the Washington State Chairman of the Equal Justice Coalition. In 1995, the Washington State Bar Association named Mr. McKay Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year, and in 2001 he received the Association's Award of Merit, its highest honor.