He served as a law clerk for three different judges on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania—William W. Knox, in 1980; Gerald Joseph Weber, from 1980 to 1981; and Maurice Blanchard Cohill, in 1981.

[2] McLaughlin was nominated by President Bill Clinton on August 12, 1994, to a seat on the same court where he had clerked, which had been vacated by Glenn E. Mencer.

[2] Among the more notable cases presided over by McLaughlin was the criminal conviction of the conspirators in the murder of Brian Douglas Wells, a highly publicized case involving a bizarre and complex bank robbery scheme.

[2] McLaughlin resigned in 2013 after being hired as General Counsel and Vice President of the Erie Insurance Group, with his final day on the bench being August 16, 2013.

[4] In January 2019, he returned to a different position at Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett.