Gavin Clarkson is an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan . He also has simultaneous appointments at the Law School and in Native American Studies. He joined the faculty of Rice University in 1991, where he served as a lecturer in computer science until 1998. From 1997-98, he also taught information systems at the University of St. Thomas.

An enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma , Professor Clarkson has consulted, written, and published extensively on tribal sovereignty, tribal governance systems, tribal economic development, and tribal asset management, and has conducted extensive research on the empirical data underlying the American Indian mascot controversy. His research interests include the development of tribal court systems, tribal access to capital markets, and the determinants of success for tribal entrepreneurship. Professor Clarkson holds both the Series 7 and Series 24 Securities licenses from the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).

In the non-Indian arena, Professor Clarkson's principal research interests are at the point of convergence between law, technology, and business. A major area of current focus involves the multiparty negotiation dynamics surrounding patent pool formation. He has also studied the management and valuation of intellectual assets, particularly in the context of electronic commerce and intellectual asset transactions. Professor Clarkson also has almost two decades of management experience, primarily in the technology industry, and has successfully launched several information technology companies including a software company, an online database firm, a special function web development company, and an internet-based education development enterprise.