James F. Hogg received his university and legal training in his native New Zealand. Following a period in practice there, he came to the United States, earning both an LL.M. and an S.J.D. from Harvard University Law School.
In 1956, Hogg came to the University of Minnesota Law School where he taught until 1970; for part of that time, he was also on the university president’s staff. From 1971 to 1975, he was a partner in the law firm of Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly. In 1975 he joined Control Data Corporation as vice president and associate general counsel.
Hogg became president and dean of William Mitchell College of Law in 1985. The significant achievement of his administration was the successful financing and construction of the Warren E. Burger Library, which provided much needed space and state-of-the-art resources. In 1995, after completing his second five-year term as president and dean, Hogg joined William Mitchell’s teaching faculty.
While remaining on the faculty, Hogg spent a year as a senior fellow with the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Then he took a two-year leave to serve as dean of Western State University College of Law in California before to returning to William Mitchell in 2003.