Professor McFarland earned a J.D. from New York University as a Root-Tilden Scholar and later earned a Ph.D. in speech-communication from the University of Minnesota. He practiced litigation for three years with a large Minneapolis firm, and has taught at Hamline University School of Law since 1974. His subjects are civil procedure, evidence, torts, federal courts, and persuasion in the law. While on leave in 1984-86, he served as Administrative Assistant to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger at the Supreme Court of the United States. During 1993-94, he was a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, and later for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. He serves as an arbitrator, a small claims court judge, and as a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Civil Rules. He lives with his wife Mary and four children in Arden Hills, Minnesota.

As co-author with Roger Park, McFarland wrote Computer-Aided Exercises on Civil Procedure (5th ed.) plus the nine accompanying civil procedure exercises distributed by CALl. He has also published Minnesota Civil Practice (3d ed.), a four volume treatise plus semi-annual pocket parts. His articles on subjects in the areas of civil procedure, evidence, federal courts, and legal education have appeared in a variety of journals, including Harvard Law Review, Missouri Law Review, Boston University Law Review , and the Journal of Legal Education.