Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker

Dean Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker joined Pacific McGeorge School of Law as its eighth dean in 2002, after serving as general counsel for the 26-campus University of Wisconsin System. Her fields of expertise include national security and terrorism, international relations, public policy and trade, technology development and transfer, commerce, and civil rights and liberties litigation.

Dean Parker has served as general counsel of the National Security Agency (1984 – 1989), principal deputy legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State (1989 – 1990), and general counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency (1990 – 1995). She began her career as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow at Emory University School of Law, and later served as the Director, New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc. Later, while a cooperating attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, she argued successfully twice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

A member of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member and former Chair of the Advisory Board of the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security, she is a frequent speaker and lecturer on national security issues. She is also a presidentially appointed member of the Public Interest Declassification Board and a member of the Director of National Intelligence’s Security Advisory Group.

She has taught national security law at Case Western Reserve Law School, Cleveland State School of Law and Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Currently Dean Parker serves on a committee of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a Board Member of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.

Parker holds both a J.D. and B.A. from the University of Michigan.