Background

Before joining the USC Law faculty in 1983, Professor McWilliams clerked for the Honorable R.A. Ainsworth, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and practiced for six years with Davis Polk & Wardwell in their New York and London offices. His principal teaching interests are Contracts, the advanced corporate law courses, and English Legal History. He developed (with former Adjunct Professor Tim Scrantom) and directs the School of Law’s Maymester study-abroad program at Gray’s Inn in London, and teaches (with Prof. Joel Samuels) Transnational Dispute Resolution in that program. Professor McWilliams is executive director of the South Carolina Law Institute and in that role has been highly active in law reform in South Carolina. His current research and writing interests focus on the normative aspects of the regulation of the legal system.

Education

• L.L.M. (1976) Harvard University
• J.D. (1975) University of Mississippi
• B.A. (1969) University of Virginia

Teaching

• Contract Law (LAWS 504)
• Securities Regulation (LAWS 606)
• Mergers & Acquisitions (LAWS 774)
• English Legal History (LAWS 790)

Scholarship

• Guardians Adrift: The Social Anthropology of the Corporate Gatekeeper Professions, 46 U. Louisville L. Rev., 225 (2007).
• Applicants Laid Bare: The Privacy Economics of University Application Files, __ Hofstra L. Rev. 185 (2005).
• Who Bears the Costs of a Lawyer's Mistakes? — Against Limited Liability, 36 Ariz. St. L.J. 885 (2004).
• Protectable Interests in Law School Application Files, ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Committee News (Summer 2003).
• Co-Author, South Carolina Limited Liability Company Practice Manual (S.C. Bar 1994 and revisions, 1996 and 1999).