| Stephan Kinsella | |||||||
| Birth Name: | Norman Stephan Kinsella | ||||||
| Birth Place: | Prairieville, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||
| Education: | Louisiana State University (BS, MS, JD) University of London (LLM) | ||||||
| Occupation: | Attorney | ||||||
| Website: | Official Website | ||||||
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Norman Stephan Kinsella (; born 1965) is an American intellectual property lawyer, author, and deontological anarcho-capitalist.[2] His legal works have been published by Oxford University Press, Oceana Publications, Mises Institute, Quid Pro Books and others.
Born in Prairieville, Louisiana, he attended Louisiana State University where he earned Bachelor of Science (BS) and Master of Science (MS) degrees in electrical engineering, and a Juris Doctor (JD) from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center (formerly known as LSU Law Center). He also obtained an LL.M. at the University of London.
Kinsella was general counsel of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., of Sugar Land, Texas from 2000 to 2012 and is currently in private practice in Houston, Texas. He was formerly an adjunct scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a right-libertarian think-tank for the promotion of Rothbardian political thought and the Austrian School of economics, where he was Book Review Editor for the Journal of Libertarian Studies[3] and a faculty member of the Mises Academy.[4] Kinsella also founded the Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom (C4SIF) of which he currently is the Director.[5] In May 2022 he was elected to the Libertarian Party Judicial Committee, but was subsequently disqualified due to being two months short of the 4 year Libertarian Party membership requirement to hold the office. As of August 2022, he is eligible and it's believed that he'll be appointed by the LP Judicial Committee to fill the vacancy caused by his ineligible run in May 2022.[6]
Kinsella's legal publications include books and articles about patent law, contract law, e-commerce law, international law, and other topics.
Kinsella is a strong opponent of intellectual property,[7] arguing that patents and copyrights should not form part of a proper libertarian law code.[8] He is a proponent of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's theory on argumentation ethics.[9] He is an atheist, having previously been a devout Catholic.[10]