William Birdthistle is a professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he specializes in investment funds and corporate law.  Previously, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and practiced law at Ropes & Gray LLP.  Birdthistle was born in Cork, Ireland, and raised in Libya and Malaysia.  He came the United States to attend Duke University and Harvard Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Harvard Law Review.  Birdthistle lives in Chicago with his wife and children.