[1] McLaughlin received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Fordham College in 1954, and was a captain in the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1955 to 1957.
In 1971, McLaughlin became Dean of Fordham Law School, a position he held for ten years.
[2] On July 10, 1990, President George H. W. Bush nominated McLaughlin for elevation to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Lawrence Warren Pierce.
McLaughlin assumed senior status on March 20, 1998 and continued to hear cases in that capacity.
He was the author of Practice Commentaries for McKinney's New York CPLR and the PLI Monograph on Evidence.