I have followed Tom’s career since graduating from law school in 1971 at which time Tom’s father hired me as an associate at Wilson & McIlvaine; originally it was from afar and in recent years, it has been more closely. Tom, it is my pleasure and honor to consider you to be a friend.
Through my involvement as a director of the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation, which has supported the law school and legal clinic for many years, I have had the opportunity to witness firsthand the impact that Tom’s leadership and vision have had on the faculty and students of Northwestern. We are very proud of Tom’s many accomplishments in the area of criminal justice in particular, and in the advancement of clinical education in general.
All of the praise bestowed upon Tom on this site is well deserved. Tom’s dedication to the numerous roles he has served at Northwestern (advocate, administrator, attorney, scholar, teacher and more) is inspiring. While Tom’s contributions as Director of the Legal Clinic and Associate Dean will be truly missed, Northwestern is very fortunate that he will continue as a full-time member of the Clinic and Law School faculty. I look forward to working with him for many years to come.
I have known Tom since the late 1980s when he taught me ethics. Tom has been a friend and a mentor to me ever since. My favorite story about Tom: When I was in law school Judge Marvin Aspen taught a criminal practice class in which he had his students observe a federal criminal trial in his courtroom. The case was charged as a gun case and carried a lengthy mandatory minimum sentence under federal law. The defendant allegedly stuck up a convenience store with a gun. His defense was mis-identification. The federal prosecutors were so confident in the strength of their case that they decided not to bother using a peremptory challenge to get rid of the one defense-minded potential juror: Tom Geraghty. The former assistant federal defender Luis Galvan gave a brilliant closing argument, highlighting the problems with the police lineup. And Tom and his fellow jurors quickly voted not guilty.
After reading the many messages above, it is hard to beat Steve Drizin’s apt description of the special man that is Tom Geraghty! Tom, in your decades at the Law School, you have impacted countless students, colleagues and clients. You have lived the motto, “Do well and do good” that we were instructed to follow upon graduation. Thank you for leading by example and teaching me so much along the way.
The highlight of my law school experience was my work in the clinic. These experiences ran the gamut from manning the front desk and interviewing the walk-in clients in the basement of Wieboldt Hall to traveling to Statesville Prison as court appointed counsel to meet with a client in a civil rights case to obtaining Social Security benefits for Mrs. Kramer who was in need of heart surgery and so much more. How many law students have the experience of arguing an appeal in the Seventh Circuit, in front of retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who just happened to be riding the circuit? No matter that it was a tax case, a subject about which I knew nothing. You, John Elson and Steve Lubet whipped me into shape in no time. That was amazing (and terrifying at the same time)!
I look forward to collaborating with you on meaningful projects in the future now that you will have a little extra time on your hands. Wishing all the best today and always, my friend and mentor. Fondly, Karen
Many will attest to Tom’s extraordinary contributions to the development and growth of the Bluhm Legal Clinic, to the vital expansion of clinical legal education at Northwestern and beyond, to his never wavering commitment to improving the legal system to provide for greater social justice, to his passion for teaching the next generation of trial lawyers, and to Tom’s incredible work in Federal and state courts on behalf of countless clinic clients, whether in achieving success in an “impact” case or “simply” having helped one individual to be able to live a happy and productive life. In all of these endeavors and more, Tom’s personal impact has been profound. But for me, I think first of Tom’s humanity, his integrity, his commitment to service and his wry sense of humor. Those qualities first inspired me as one of his students and Tom inspires me today as a lawyer and a member of the Clinic Advisory Board. I am grateful for all that he has done and I am looking forward to his next chapter.
Forty years ago, I took my first trip to court with Tom Geraghty as a 1L student. This was the start of an incredible journey. For fifty years Tom has taken this journey with countless NU Law students. Throughout this period, Tom has been a steadfast, model mentor who has shown our law students how to practice law while serving the public interest. Every time I have seen Tom working at the Clinic, he inspires a renewed commitment to the law. I am deeply grateful to have taken that memorable journey with Tom as is every other law student who preceded or followed my journey.
Your service to the Law School has been remarkable.
Your talk to the Las Vegas NU Club (with Alan Pabercz) was the original and first
NU faculty member to address the group. Your discussion of the
achievements of the Bluhm Legal Clinic convinced the club members
of the forward thinking and planning of the Law School, growing into
an ongoing program of considerable excellence.
Your appearance brought forth sizeable attendance of the Club that
included a number of your former law students and practicing Nevada attorneys.
They stated that the Bluhm Legal Clinic provided special meaning in their
lives. They all agreed that the Clinic, for the most part, was a practical
introduction to clients, courtrooms and judges. At another
level, several law school graduates so much enjoyed the experience
that they now serve and are employed by various Nevada legal clinics.
We wish to extend our appreciation for all of your lifetime efforts..
I met Tom in the early 1980’s at a Program Director’s meeting for NITA. I knew all about him from my mentor, Ken Broun, who was the former NITA Director and the then Dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law so I was looking forward to the meeting. When someone meets Tom Greraghty, it is immediately clear that you are dealing with a man of great substance – smart, articulate, talented and probably the most modest person I ever met. The breach between talent and ego for him is broad, and in the right way. Over the years a highlight of the PD meetings for me was the chance to spend time with and learn from Tom. And sometime in the 1980’s we got to write a problems book on Negotiations for NITA, along with our friend and colleague, Melissa Nelken. Tom was the brains, Melissa the conscience and I was the scribe.
Over the years Tom was a constant influence of my career, by both his shared wisdom and by providing the very model of the ethical lawyer. During my time as NITA’s director I counted on him for sound advice and clarity of purpose in NITA maintaining its focus on public service. All of the above is true, but not my story.
Back in the day, Tom was absolutely petrified of flying and confessed to considerable alcoholic intake before take-off . At a National NITA program in Boulder, Tom and I were at a local establishment together, with among others, Urban Lester who was an accomplished pilot. The conversation turned to flying and Tom was grilling Urban about safety and complained about what he considered a rough landing in Denver. Urban was well aware of Tom’s phobia, winked and with a straight face told him, “that’s what you’re looking for — fly in, get close to the runway, and from about ten feet up, drop the plane on the runway,” Tom was neither calmed nor amused, but was encouraged to buy another round for the group.
Tom would later become a frequent flyer, especially to Ethiopia. Not sure how he got over his reluctance to leave the ground but suspect better living through chemistry.
So Tom, congratulations on the continuation of your spectacular career and with the hope to see you in the near future.
It’s hard to sum up all I learned from Tom Geraghty as my legal clinic supervisor. I remember the case of James W., Tom’s client who was serving a life sentence for a double homicide conviction. I worked with Tom on a petition for leave to appeal (PLA) to the IL S. Ct. Right before we filed the PLA, we found a recent case that was directly on point on an important legal issue. As only a second-year law student could think, I was sure the PLA would be allowed. I remember feeling extremely disappointed when the PLA was denied. I sat in Tom’s office, and he patiently explained that the facts of the case, the law, and the low number of PLAs granted contributed to the denial. Tom then asked me if I wanted to stay in his office while he spoke to James and told him the news. I’ll never forget that call. After hearing the news, James seemed disappointed, but he went on to thank Tom for all his hard work, and for not giving up on him. Listening to James really put my disappointment in perspective. James was serving a life sentence, but he knew that Tom did everything he could to reverse his conviction. Tom, thanks for all the lessons you taught me.
There are few lawyers I love and respect as much as Tom and Diane. Thank you, Tom, for your devotion to representation of the neediest of those in need, poor people accused of crimes, especially juveniles. Northwestern Law students will transmit your values and skills into future generations. Congratulations and best wishes for a very happy retirement.
Because Tom is so modest, I won’t vex him with stories about and tributes to his wonderful achievements in developing over the last four decades the best clinical program in the country, in mentoring countless appreciative students, in leading the fight for juvenile justice reform in Chicago, in successfully litigating for the freedom of innumerable needy and deserving defendants and in fathering nascent clinical programs in Africa, Asia and the Asian subcontinent. Instead, I’ll just remark on an aspect of Tom’s leadership that has always puzzled me: how could a man who is so accessible, so supportive of his co-workers’ personal and professional lives and so comfortably laid-back and even-tempered manage so effectively our complex clinical program with all its demanding constituencies, its constant funding demands, its overseeing bureaucratic hierarchies and its call on everyone’s best professional efforts to meet the challenges of our socially fraught city and do all of that with such seeming effortlessness. Whatever his secret, he has been able to bring out the best in all of us. His successor would have impossible shoes to fill were it not for the fact that Tom has laid a foundation that he or she will find invaluable in charting our future course.
As a member of the law school class of 1978, I was part of a group of students inspired by Tom and his colleagues at the clinic. It was a welcoming place where we learned how to actually practice law and to do impactful work. Tom’s leadership and guidance was critical to extraordinary success that the Clinic has achieved over the years. But the memory that sticks with me all these years later arises from an event that he and Diane hosted at their home for a group of us law students. I may be wrong, but I believe that every incoming first year student was invited to a faculty member’s home, and I believe I was fortunate to receive an invitation to the Geraghty’s house. I was able to bring my girlfriend at the time, Ellen, who later became my wife and yet later became a dean at the law school. To this day we recall the warmth of their home, the remarkable relationship that they had with their children and the way they seemed to have figured out the balance between a meaningful legal career and a full and dedicated home and family life. Ellen and I left that night saying to one another that we could only aspire to what Tom and Diane had created for themselves and their family. They were and still are an inspiration to us both professionally and on a very concrete personal level.
Where to begin? Tom has been unfailingly supportive, inspiring, and unselfish in his leadership of the Bluhm Legal Clinic during my sixteen years here, and there are so many memories I could share. I decided to focus on some of the many ways Tom has inspired me to defy expectations of a legal professional of a certain age and prominence.
One of the cases I co-counseled with Tom a few years back involved preparing for the retrial of a client who had been wrongfully convicted of murder. Four eyewitnesses implicated our client at the first trial, and we decided to re-interview them before the second trial. Tom was a distinguished lawyer in his 60s, with an international reputation in several fields, who headed up the Legal Clinic and had significant administrative responsibilities within the Law School, was teaching multiple classes, was the lead attorney on several other cases, and maintained a killer travel schedule. Nonetheless, Tom found the time to come out in the field with me and our law students – knocking on doors in a neighborhood far from the Law School where the crime took place, speaking with recalcitrant witnesses, looking on as students led interviews, and debriefing with the legal team afterward. (Based on the fruits of our reinvestigation, the prosecution dismissed the charges rather than retrying the case, and our client was fully exonerated.)
My takeaway from this and other projects I have worked on with Tom is that that no aspect of client representation or teaching is “beneath” him. Tom would have been more than justified in delegating the above activities, but he exemplifies the principle that intimate knowledge of cases, participation in all aspects of investigation and preparation, and personal observation of students as they learn is the essence of being an extraordinary attorney and educator. Whenever I wonder if I am too old to be out in the field, or if I am overly involved in my students’ activities and the minute details of my cases, I think about Tom’s approach and figure I cannot go wrong if I emulate his example.
It comes as no surprise to me that while Tom is stepping down as an administrator, he plans to continue his teaching and case work. How fortunate that is for his students, clients, and colleagues. I hope I am lucky enough to have additional opportunities to collaborate with Tom in the years to come.
I attended Northwestern University Law School because it was in my home town, and is an excellent law school. I did not know, then, that I was also joining the Law School Family. That realization came when I was appointed Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Division of The Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois in 1992. Tom immediately called and offered much needed support and any help the Court would need as we reformed and grew the embattled Juvenile Division. So began an ongoing relationship with him, and, also, with the other half of their dynamic duo, his wife, Diane, who without any difficulty persuaded me to assist her in one of her classes on juvenile law at Loyola. In further payment back, how could I say no when Tom asked me to participate over the years as one of the judges in his NITA classes for lawyers wanting to learn advocacy. Those training sessions for the students also were wonderful educational sessions for me, too. Tom’s exit from the helm of the Clinic will release him to do more with his great creative endeavors providing hands-on assistance to improve the administration of justice around the world. The Law School, all the friends he has made and students he has inspired, are so much the better for knowing him. Here is my wish for more to come. Judge Sophia H. Hall, NW Law Class of 1967
Tom organized a study trip at Northwestern Law for professors from leading Macedonian law schools in 2015 to learn about clinical legal education, trial advocacy courses, and the U.S. justice system. I was managing the study trip from the INL/ U.S. State Department side (out of US Embassy Skopje). I cannot stress what an amazing and complete job Tom did, including visits to the Chicago courts and meeting Leroy Orange. He left a lasting impression on the Macedonian professors, and certainly will help to improve the rule of law in Macedonia. Mark Lasser. NW Law Class of 1996.
Tom has truly been a very positive inspiration to generations of law students. I was privileged to have Tom as a legal writing instructor when he was a third year student at Northwestern and I was a first year student. Later he was an inspiration to me and others when he served as a staff attorney in the early days of the clinic. He encouraged me and his wife Diane, who was a classmate of mine, to enter the legal services field. Diane and I, along with Pat McIntyre, became the “Reggies” from our class.
Tom deserves our affection and congratulations on a lifetime of service to those in our society who would otherwise have been denied access to the justice system. Thanks, tom, for all you have done. There is life after deaning.
Tom’s accomplishments and admirers span the globe. Once, discussing with me the intersection of criminal procedure and human rights, he noted that Zanzibar had recently revised its criminal procedure code to reflect basic premises of human rights. He just happened to have a copy, he said, and sure enough produced the Zanzibar Code of Criminal Procedure from the pile on his desk.
I was impressed by this, but quickly learned that I was not the only member of Tom’s fan club. At conferences in India, Russia, and Panama, I’ve been approached by public officials, UN leaders, and academics, and asked to convey their warm regards to Tom.
The law school has been extraordinarily fortunate to have Tom as a leader and ambassador. His legacy will endure, at home and around the world.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share a few random thoughts of my interactions with Tom through the years. I will mention but a few–both personal and professional–and attempt not to duplicate the Dean’s excellent resumé of Tom’s accomplishments.
On a personal note, in addition to residing in the same community, I have had the privilege of having both Tom’s wife, Diane, as a student in the first class I taught at the Law School and his talented daughter, Annie, as one of my very best law clerks. I have also been “hired” by Tom on occasion to umpire Law Review/Faculty softball games. And speaking of Tom’s integrity, unlike the umpiring during my days as a Northwestern law student, I was never requested to make sure the faculty would win!
As to our professional interactions during both Tom’s appearances in my courtroom and at the Law School, two events stand out.
When Tom was the Director of the Criminal Short Course Programs at the Law School, I served as chair to the Program’s Advisory Committee. It was an easy chore for me and the other Committee members. The combination of Tom’s criminal law expertise and administrative skills needed little supplemental input to produce outstanding programs for both prosecutors and defense attorneys. One of Tom’s successful innovations was the establishment of a one-day joint session of the Prosecutor and Defense Counsel Courses, where attorneys on both sides of the criminal trial process could discuss and debate common trial issues.
Tom and I shared a defining educational moment more than four decades ago, when I chaired an Illinois Supreme Court Sentencing Seminar for state trial judges and asked for Tom’s help in preparing a sentencing exercise that would challenge then unexplored notions of unintentional bias in judicial sentencing. At the time there had been open discussion among lawyers and much had been written about minority defendants generally receiving greater sentences than white defendants for the same offense and female offenders receiving lesser sentences than male offenders. But no research was available at the time as to whether the race or sex of the victim was a determinative factor in the severity of the sentence.
I told Tom of my interest in seeing if we could help fill this information void with an experimental sentencing exercise for the judges’ seminar.
We first prepared a model sentencing report for a defendant in a rape case. The race of both the defendant and the victim were purposely omitted from the report. Their names were also generic, with no hint of ethnic background.
Tom produced and directed four video versions (called films in those days) of the hearing for the defendant in the model pre-sentencing report–using four different actors playing defendant and victim: Video A featured a white defendant and a white victim; Video B, African-American defendant and victim; Video C, African-American defendant and white victim; and Video D, white defendant and African-American victim.
At the seminar, I divided the judges (who had previously read the pre-sentence report) into four groups which each separately viewed one of the four videos in different rooms. After the showings, we asked each judge to sentence the defendant in a written order. Not surprisingly, the judges who viewed Video C handed out the harshest sentence. Again, not unexpectedly, the defendant in Video D received the least harsh sentence. But surprisingly, the judges who viewed Video A, sentenced the defendant more severely than those who watched Video B. Conclusion: in rape case sentencing, the race of the victim is even more determinative than the race of the defendant. This result was no fluke. The experiment–using Tom’s videos–was repeated three more times with the same result for state trial judges throughout the country at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.
Tom and I also put together another sentencing experiment for the same trial judges: a sentencing report (theft case using a gender neutral first name for the defendant) and companion videos (one showing a male defendant and the other a female), which when presented to the judges showed a bias in favor of the female defendant.
I am pleased to share these few random thoughts and contribute to this celebration of Tom’s success and admiration in both academia and among legal practitioners.
I most remember trying to walk as fast as Tom on our way to the courthouse and never being able to keep up without breaking into a trot. Tom used the privilege of a law degree with gusto and zeal, not just to help the most unfortunate, but to fundamentally shake up the system — all while disguised as a mild-mannered, harmless lawyer. The example and experience he provided are the primary reasons I finished school and practice law.
Thanks to Tom for his leadership of the amazing Northwestern clinic, which fueled my interest in public service and prepared me for a legal career in the public interest.
When I think of my favorite part of law school, it was my time in the Legal Clinic. When I think of the Legal Clinic, I think of the wonderful energy, inspiration, talent and heart of Tom Geraghty. Best of luck, Tom, in all your new endeavors, and thank you so much for all you shared us and with the world!
Tom is a very humble and respectful Professor that I’ve ever known. I never took any course with him, but I know that he is one of the best Law Professors at Northwestern Law School. I was an Internationals Student at Northwestern when I first met Tom. He came to one of our Human Rights classes and introduced himself. When we finished the class, I met Tom and told him that I’m from Africa. He was happy to see me there and took me to lunch. He shared me some of his works and projects in Africa. I was so humbled and amazed by his experiences. He knows everything! I never forget his advice and guidance. Thank you Tom for your contribution – you have helped a lot of people and shaped the legal system of many countries around the world.
I was a student in the Clinic prior to my graduation from NULS in 1991. The Clinic felt like “home” to me: a place in the law school that wasn’t corporate in nature, that required students to interact with real people with real legal problems, and that forced us as students to be real lawyers; those were invaluable lessons for those of us who aspired to go out and practice law for individuals. Tom led and nurtured that “legal laboratory” for students. Thank you, Tom, you’ve been a powerful and kind inspiration for a lot of students, me included!
I have known Tom since the 1960s. We have been on the same side and on different sides of various issues. Tom is one of the finest lawyers I have encountered in my over 50 years as an attorney. More importantly, Tom is one of the finest human beings I have encountered in my 77 years. Watching Tom has taught me much about the law and more about how to live life.
The trips that I took with Tom Geraghty to the Cook County Court at 26th and California, and the Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, were two of the most educational and thought-transforming experiences I had in law school and in my early career. As my first-year advisor Tom was candid, helpful, and wise in guiding me through the mysterious law school experience. Tom gave me valuable lessons in law and life, and I’ve realized more and more since then how unique and influential Tom is. I appreciate having the opportunity to learn from Tom. Thank you!
I probably am as old as your are, if not older (class of ’81). I’m sure you do not remember me, and why should you, since I pursued a very different career path from your own. I first worked for large firms, because in those days it was available and big money. Later I switched to small firms and finally to a solo practice. I’m sure this is hard to understand, , but middle class people buying their first home or elderly folks (of which I’m one now!) wanting to end their life with with dignity and whatever is left of their estate to whom they want, are seeking justice too. It’s not like the incredible justice you worked for, your whole career, but it always felt wonderful after the transaction/event to get those cards that said “you did a good job.” You taught me, in a quiet, even way, that justice, real justice, matters, and for that I cannot thank you enough.
I am with Tom in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania as I write. He is here to assist Professor Ron Allen and his team of students, of which I am one, with a collaborative effort to reform the Criminal Procedure Act of Tanzania. When I heard that Tom would be stepping down from his role as Director of the Clinic, I did not hesitate to congratulate him, and I was so glad that I could do so in person. Tom has made the Bluhm Legal Clinic the best law school clinic in the world. The Clinic runs like a well-oiled machine, and the results that it produces chart better futures for all of us. Tom has done everything that a person can do to make our world a more just place, where the most vulnerable among us are treated with respect, where we understand that we are all in this together. The vibrancy of everyone who works in the clinic resonates with the calm yet confident determination of Tom Geraghty. I am comforted by the fact that Tom will continue to give everything he has to the greater good. I am confident that he and Northwestern Law will find a new leader for the Clinic that continues Tom’s tradition of creating a wonderful place to work against some of the worst injustices in our world. Tom has shown me that it takes letting go of myself to work on behalf of others. His fight has been one for the very soul of this world. If we were more like Tom, we would think before we speak, and we would consider all the repercussions of our actions. I am proud to say that I know Tom. I am so grateful to have seen what he does. I have a better sense of what it takes to fight the fights that must be fought. Congratulations to Tom. He deserves them.
I just read the news! I was fortunate to have Tom as my supervisor while I was a student at the Clinic. Through him, I learned so much about the law, how to be a great lawyer, and about people. Tom visited my courtroom last week with a group of out-of-town students-always the teacher. And he still has that same easy smile I remember when we first met about 40 years ago. I have let that fact fool me into thinking I’m not getting older. But with this news… Tom has touched the lives of so many in our law school community. I am very proud to say he has helped make me the lawyer-and Judge-that I am today. Congratulations!
My memory of Professor Geraghty is a bit different than others. I am grateful for his guidance to the Judicial Board. He led a bunch of inexperienced law students flummoxed by the arguments of counsel. Thank you for your wisdom — and congratulations on all of your stunning accomplishments.
I can never repay the lessons that Tom taught me when I worked in the clinic my first summer. There are too many to mention — but I will describe the one that I still think of often, 30 years later.
My first case in the clinic was a fourteen year-old boy convicted of raping a four year-old relative. The boy had been scentenced to a juvenile residential center, far away from his family, where the boy was repeatedly sexually brutalized by other boys. The boy attempted suicide, and ended up in one of the all-too-few pediatric beds in a psychiatric facility in Chicago. He disclosed the rapes that had happened in the juvenile center, and the boys who hurt him were prosecuted. Meanwhile, our boy made progress with his depression, and now the state wanted to send him back to the same juvenile facility where he had been repeatedly victimized. As we drove to the Chicago facility to meet with the boy for the first time, I looked at Tom and wondered, “How could anyone feel compassion for a 14 year-old who raped a 4 year-old? Who cares what happens to a rapist?”
Well, Tom cared, and that first meeting was life-changing for me. I had never met anyone with such low self esteem as that boy. Tom immediately worked to build the boy’s self esteem from the moment Tom walked in the door. The boy reacted like no one in his life had ever cared about him before — and I suspected that was the case. I realized that the boy was a child first, and a rapist only because a life of being raped was all he knew. The boy spoke openly to Tom about the men in the boy’s family who had victimized him from the time he was little. Tom helped me to understand that the boy was a victim who became an abuser because the boy didn’t know better. Now that the boy understood that it was wrong, he was extremely remorseful.
Tom and I worked very hard to find a better solution than sending the boy back to the place where other boys had raped him. But Tom immediately started working at the issues from a bigger perspective. Why are there so few pediatric psychiatric beds and what could be done to change that? Why are there so few residential detention placements that the boy had to be sent back to the same place where the kids victimized him? And why are there no juvenile detention centers near his family, so that his mother could visit him?
Tom taught me to never accept things the way they are, but to always work to make them better. “Don’t look at the way things are,” Tom told me, “look at the way they should be.”
Tom Geraghty has been the peerless captain of the Bluhm Legal Clinic for much longer than I’ve worked here, but throughout my time in the Clinic I’ve been moved by the interest, intelligence, and gracious good humor he has shown towards everyone who makes the Clinic work: students, faculty, and staff alike. I believe the warm, hard-working atmosphere of the Clinic is a trickle-down effect that starts at the top, and the Clinic won’t be the same without him.
I’ve been asked to tell a story about Tom Geraghty as we in the Northwestern Law community come to grips with the fact that Tom is stepping down as the Director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic. To be sure, over the span of 25 years of working with Tom, co-counseling on cases with him, co-teaching with him, and serving as his Assistant Director, I have a few recollections of great moments of Tom in the courtroom and in the classroom. But for me, my more vivid memories are of Tom working in collaboration with others — leading faculty meetings, strategizing about how to improve the status and job security of clinical professors, hosting clinical law professors from around the globe, sitting in his office or a conference room surrounded by students, or brainstorming about how to achieve juvenile and criminal justice reform in Cook County.
Thomas F. Geraghty 
Must admit an acquainted admiration.
I have followed Tom’s career since graduating from law school in 1971 at which time Tom’s father hired me as an associate at Wilson & McIlvaine; originally it was from afar and in recent years, it has been more closely. Tom, it is my pleasure and honor to consider you to be a friend.
Through my involvement as a director of the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation, which has supported the law school and legal clinic for many years, I have had the opportunity to witness firsthand the impact that Tom’s leadership and vision have had on the faculty and students of Northwestern. We are very proud of Tom’s many accomplishments in the area of criminal justice in particular, and in the advancement of clinical education in general.
All of the praise bestowed upon Tom on this site is well deserved. Tom’s dedication to the numerous roles he has served at Northwestern (advocate, administrator, attorney, scholar, teacher and more) is inspiring. While Tom’s contributions as Director of the Legal Clinic and Associate Dean will be truly missed, Northwestern is very fortunate that he will continue as a full-time member of the Clinic and Law School faculty. I look forward to working with him for many years to come.
I have known Tom since the late 1980s when he taught me ethics. Tom has been a friend and a mentor to me ever since. My favorite story about Tom: When I was in law school Judge Marvin Aspen taught a criminal practice class in which he had his students observe a federal criminal trial in his courtroom. The case was charged as a gun case and carried a lengthy mandatory minimum sentence under federal law. The defendant allegedly stuck up a convenience store with a gun. His defense was mis-identification. The federal prosecutors were so confident in the strength of their case that they decided not to bother using a peremptory challenge to get rid of the one defense-minded potential juror: Tom Geraghty. The former assistant federal defender Luis Galvan gave a brilliant closing argument, highlighting the problems with the police lineup. And Tom and his fellow jurors quickly voted not guilty.
After reading the many messages above, it is hard to beat Steve Drizin’s apt description of the special man that is Tom Geraghty! Tom, in your decades at the Law School, you have impacted countless students, colleagues and clients. You have lived the motto, “Do well and do good” that we were instructed to follow upon graduation. Thank you for leading by example and teaching me so much along the way.
The highlight of my law school experience was my work in the clinic. These experiences ran the gamut from manning the front desk and interviewing the walk-in clients in the basement of Wieboldt Hall to traveling to Statesville Prison as court appointed counsel to meet with a client in a civil rights case to obtaining Social Security benefits for Mrs. Kramer who was in need of heart surgery and so much more. How many law students have the experience of arguing an appeal in the Seventh Circuit, in front of retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who just happened to be riding the circuit? No matter that it was a tax case, a subject about which I knew nothing. You, John Elson and Steve Lubet whipped me into shape in no time. That was amazing (and terrifying at the same time)!
I look forward to collaborating with you on meaningful projects in the future now that you will have a little extra time on your hands. Wishing all the best today and always, my friend and mentor. Fondly, Karen
Many will attest to Tom’s extraordinary contributions to the development and growth of the Bluhm Legal Clinic, to the vital expansion of clinical legal education at Northwestern and beyond, to his never wavering commitment to improving the legal system to provide for greater social justice, to his passion for teaching the next generation of trial lawyers, and to Tom’s incredible work in Federal and state courts on behalf of countless clinic clients, whether in achieving success in an “impact” case or “simply” having helped one individual to be able to live a happy and productive life. In all of these endeavors and more, Tom’s personal impact has been profound. But for me, I think first of Tom’s humanity, his integrity, his commitment to service and his wry sense of humor. Those qualities first inspired me as one of his students and Tom inspires me today as a lawyer and a member of the Clinic Advisory Board. I am grateful for all that he has done and I am looking forward to his next chapter.
Forty years ago, I took my first trip to court with Tom Geraghty as a 1L student. This was the start of an incredible journey. For fifty years Tom has taken this journey with countless NU Law students. Throughout this period, Tom has been a steadfast, model mentor who has shown our law students how to practice law while serving the public interest. Every time I have seen Tom working at the Clinic, he inspires a renewed commitment to the law. I am deeply grateful to have taken that memorable journey with Tom as is every other law student who preceded or followed my journey.
Chief Judge Rubén Castillo
Dean Geraghty
Your service to the Law School has been remarkable.
Your talk to the Las Vegas NU Club (with Alan Pabercz) was the original and first
NU faculty member to address the group. Your discussion of the
achievements of the Bluhm Legal Clinic convinced the club members
of the forward thinking and planning of the Law School, growing into
an ongoing program of considerable excellence.
Your appearance brought forth sizeable attendance of the Club that
included a number of your former law students and practicing Nevada attorneys.
They stated that the Bluhm Legal Clinic provided special meaning in their
lives. They all agreed that the Clinic, for the most part, was a practical
introduction to clients, courtrooms and judges. At another
level, several law school graduates so much enjoyed the experience
that they now serve and are employed by various Nevada legal clinics.
We wish to extend our appreciation for all of your lifetime efforts..
Best wishes,
Peg & Russ Matthias
I met Tom in the early 1980’s at a Program Director’s meeting for NITA. I knew all about him from my mentor, Ken Broun, who was the former NITA Director and the then Dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law so I was looking forward to the meeting. When someone meets Tom Greraghty, it is immediately clear that you are dealing with a man of great substance – smart, articulate, talented and probably the most modest person I ever met. The breach between talent and ego for him is broad, and in the right way. Over the years a highlight of the PD meetings for me was the chance to spend time with and learn from Tom. And sometime in the 1980’s we got to write a problems book on Negotiations for NITA, along with our friend and colleague, Melissa Nelken. Tom was the brains, Melissa the conscience and I was the scribe.
Over the years Tom was a constant influence of my career, by both his shared wisdom and by providing the very model of the ethical lawyer. During my time as NITA’s director I counted on him for sound advice and clarity of purpose in NITA maintaining its focus on public service. All of the above is true, but not my story.
Back in the day, Tom was absolutely petrified of flying and confessed to considerable alcoholic intake before take-off . At a National NITA program in Boulder, Tom and I were at a local establishment together, with among others, Urban Lester who was an accomplished pilot. The conversation turned to flying and Tom was grilling Urban about safety and complained about what he considered a rough landing in Denver. Urban was well aware of Tom’s phobia, winked and with a straight face told him, “that’s what you’re looking for — fly in, get close to the runway, and from about ten feet up, drop the plane on the runway,” Tom was neither calmed nor amused, but was encouraged to buy another round for the group.
Tom would later become a frequent flyer, especially to Ethiopia. Not sure how he got over his reluctance to leave the ground but suspect better living through chemistry.
So Tom, congratulations on the continuation of your spectacular career and with the hope to see you in the near future.
Tony
It’s hard to sum up all I learned from Tom Geraghty as my legal clinic supervisor. I remember the case of James W., Tom’s client who was serving a life sentence for a double homicide conviction. I worked with Tom on a petition for leave to appeal (PLA) to the IL S. Ct. Right before we filed the PLA, we found a recent case that was directly on point on an important legal issue. As only a second-year law student could think, I was sure the PLA would be allowed. I remember feeling extremely disappointed when the PLA was denied. I sat in Tom’s office, and he patiently explained that the facts of the case, the law, and the low number of PLAs granted contributed to the denial. Tom then asked me if I wanted to stay in his office while he spoke to James and told him the news. I’ll never forget that call. After hearing the news, James seemed disappointed, but he went on to thank Tom for all his hard work, and for not giving up on him. Listening to James really put my disappointment in perspective. James was serving a life sentence, but he knew that Tom did everything he could to reverse his conviction. Tom, thanks for all the lessons you taught me.
There are few lawyers I love and respect as much as Tom and Diane. Thank you, Tom, for your devotion to representation of the neediest of those in need, poor people accused of crimes, especially juveniles. Northwestern Law students will transmit your values and skills into future generations. Congratulations and best wishes for a very happy retirement.
Because Tom is so modest, I won’t vex him with stories about and tributes to his wonderful achievements in developing over the last four decades the best clinical program in the country, in mentoring countless appreciative students, in leading the fight for juvenile justice reform in Chicago, in successfully litigating for the freedom of innumerable needy and deserving defendants and in fathering nascent clinical programs in Africa, Asia and the Asian subcontinent. Instead, I’ll just remark on an aspect of Tom’s leadership that has always puzzled me: how could a man who is so accessible, so supportive of his co-workers’ personal and professional lives and so comfortably laid-back and even-tempered manage so effectively our complex clinical program with all its demanding constituencies, its constant funding demands, its overseeing bureaucratic hierarchies and its call on everyone’s best professional efforts to meet the challenges of our socially fraught city and do all of that with such seeming effortlessness. Whatever his secret, he has been able to bring out the best in all of us. His successor would have impossible shoes to fill were it not for the fact that Tom has laid a foundation that he or she will find invaluable in charting our future course.
As a member of the law school class of 1978, I was part of a group of students inspired by Tom and his colleagues at the clinic. It was a welcoming place where we learned how to actually practice law and to do impactful work. Tom’s leadership and guidance was critical to extraordinary success that the Clinic has achieved over the years. But the memory that sticks with me all these years later arises from an event that he and Diane hosted at their home for a group of us law students. I may be wrong, but I believe that every incoming first year student was invited to a faculty member’s home, and I believe I was fortunate to receive an invitation to the Geraghty’s house. I was able to bring my girlfriend at the time, Ellen, who later became my wife and yet later became a dean at the law school. To this day we recall the warmth of their home, the remarkable relationship that they had with their children and the way they seemed to have figured out the balance between a meaningful legal career and a full and dedicated home and family life. Ellen and I left that night saying to one another that we could only aspire to what Tom and Diane had created for themselves and their family. They were and still are an inspiration to us both professionally and on a very concrete personal level.
Where to begin? Tom has been unfailingly supportive, inspiring, and unselfish in his leadership of the Bluhm Legal Clinic during my sixteen years here, and there are so many memories I could share. I decided to focus on some of the many ways Tom has inspired me to defy expectations of a legal professional of a certain age and prominence.
One of the cases I co-counseled with Tom a few years back involved preparing for the retrial of a client who had been wrongfully convicted of murder. Four eyewitnesses implicated our client at the first trial, and we decided to re-interview them before the second trial. Tom was a distinguished lawyer in his 60s, with an international reputation in several fields, who headed up the Legal Clinic and had significant administrative responsibilities within the Law School, was teaching multiple classes, was the lead attorney on several other cases, and maintained a killer travel schedule. Nonetheless, Tom found the time to come out in the field with me and our law students – knocking on doors in a neighborhood far from the Law School where the crime took place, speaking with recalcitrant witnesses, looking on as students led interviews, and debriefing with the legal team afterward. (Based on the fruits of our reinvestigation, the prosecution dismissed the charges rather than retrying the case, and our client was fully exonerated.)
My takeaway from this and other projects I have worked on with Tom is that that no aspect of client representation or teaching is “beneath” him. Tom would have been more than justified in delegating the above activities, but he exemplifies the principle that intimate knowledge of cases, participation in all aspects of investigation and preparation, and personal observation of students as they learn is the essence of being an extraordinary attorney and educator. Whenever I wonder if I am too old to be out in the field, or if I am overly involved in my students’ activities and the minute details of my cases, I think about Tom’s approach and figure I cannot go wrong if I emulate his example.
It comes as no surprise to me that while Tom is stepping down as an administrator, he plans to continue his teaching and case work. How fortunate that is for his students, clients, and colleagues. I hope I am lucky enough to have additional opportunities to collaborate with Tom in the years to come.
I attended Northwestern University Law School because it was in my home town, and is an excellent law school. I did not know, then, that I was also joining the Law School Family. That realization came when I was appointed Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Division of The Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois in 1992. Tom immediately called and offered much needed support and any help the Court would need as we reformed and grew the embattled Juvenile Division. So began an ongoing relationship with him, and, also, with the other half of their dynamic duo, his wife, Diane, who without any difficulty persuaded me to assist her in one of her classes on juvenile law at Loyola. In further payment back, how could I say no when Tom asked me to participate over the years as one of the judges in his NITA classes for lawyers wanting to learn advocacy. Those training sessions for the students also were wonderful educational sessions for me, too. Tom’s exit from the helm of the Clinic will release him to do more with his great creative endeavors providing hands-on assistance to improve the administration of justice around the world. The Law School, all the friends he has made and students he has inspired, are so much the better for knowing him. Here is my wish for more to come. Judge Sophia H. Hall, NW Law Class of 1967
Tom organized a study trip at Northwestern Law for professors from leading Macedonian law schools in 2015 to learn about clinical legal education, trial advocacy courses, and the U.S. justice system. I was managing the study trip from the INL/ U.S. State Department side (out of US Embassy Skopje). I cannot stress what an amazing and complete job Tom did, including visits to the Chicago courts and meeting Leroy Orange. He left a lasting impression on the Macedonian professors, and certainly will help to improve the rule of law in Macedonia. Mark Lasser. NW Law Class of 1996.
I would not be the lawyer I am without Tom. I would not be the person I am without Tom. Thanks. Allen Cherry. Class of ’77
Tom has truly been a very positive inspiration to generations of law students. I was privileged to have Tom as a legal writing instructor when he was a third year student at Northwestern and I was a first year student. Later he was an inspiration to me and others when he served as a staff attorney in the early days of the clinic. He encouraged me and his wife Diane, who was a classmate of mine, to enter the legal services field. Diane and I, along with Pat McIntyre, became the “Reggies” from our class.
Tom deserves our affection and congratulations on a lifetime of service to those in our society who would otherwise have been denied access to the justice system. Thanks, tom, for all you have done. There is life after deaning.
Tom’s accomplishments and admirers span the globe. Once, discussing with me the intersection of criminal procedure and human rights, he noted that Zanzibar had recently revised its criminal procedure code to reflect basic premises of human rights. He just happened to have a copy, he said, and sure enough produced the Zanzibar Code of Criminal Procedure from the pile on his desk.
I was impressed by this, but quickly learned that I was not the only member of Tom’s fan club. At conferences in India, Russia, and Panama, I’ve been approached by public officials, UN leaders, and academics, and asked to convey their warm regards to Tom.
The law school has been extraordinarily fortunate to have Tom as a leader and ambassador. His legacy will endure, at home and around the world.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share a few random thoughts of my interactions with Tom through the years. I will mention but a few–both personal and professional–and attempt not to duplicate the Dean’s excellent resumé of Tom’s accomplishments.
On a personal note, in addition to residing in the same community, I have had the privilege of having both Tom’s wife, Diane, as a student in the first class I taught at the Law School and his talented daughter, Annie, as one of my very best law clerks. I have also been “hired” by Tom on occasion to umpire Law Review/Faculty softball games. And speaking of Tom’s integrity, unlike the umpiring during my days as a Northwestern law student, I was never requested to make sure the faculty would win!
As to our professional interactions during both Tom’s appearances in my courtroom and at the Law School, two events stand out.
When Tom was the Director of the Criminal Short Course Programs at the Law School, I served as chair to the Program’s Advisory Committee. It was an easy chore for me and the other Committee members. The combination of Tom’s criminal law expertise and administrative skills needed little supplemental input to produce outstanding programs for both prosecutors and defense attorneys. One of Tom’s successful innovations was the establishment of a one-day joint session of the Prosecutor and Defense Counsel Courses, where attorneys on both sides of the criminal trial process could discuss and debate common trial issues.
Tom and I shared a defining educational moment more than four decades ago, when I chaired an Illinois Supreme Court Sentencing Seminar for state trial judges and asked for Tom’s help in preparing a sentencing exercise that would challenge then unexplored notions of unintentional bias in judicial sentencing. At the time there had been open discussion among lawyers and much had been written about minority defendants generally receiving greater sentences than white defendants for the same offense and female offenders receiving lesser sentences than male offenders. But no research was available at the time as to whether the race or sex of the victim was a determinative factor in the severity of the sentence.
I told Tom of my interest in seeing if we could help fill this information void with an experimental sentencing exercise for the judges’ seminar.
We first prepared a model sentencing report for a defendant in a rape case. The race of both the defendant and the victim were purposely omitted from the report. Their names were also generic, with no hint of ethnic background.
Tom produced and directed four video versions (called films in those days) of the hearing for the defendant in the model pre-sentencing report–using four different actors playing defendant and victim: Video A featured a white defendant and a white victim; Video B, African-American defendant and victim; Video C, African-American defendant and white victim; and Video D, white defendant and African-American victim.
At the seminar, I divided the judges (who had previously read the pre-sentence report) into four groups which each separately viewed one of the four videos in different rooms. After the showings, we asked each judge to sentence the defendant in a written order. Not surprisingly, the judges who viewed Video C handed out the harshest sentence. Again, not unexpectedly, the defendant in Video D received the least harsh sentence. But surprisingly, the judges who viewed Video A, sentenced the defendant more severely than those who watched Video B. Conclusion: in rape case sentencing, the race of the victim is even more determinative than the race of the defendant. This result was no fluke. The experiment–using Tom’s videos–was repeated three more times with the same result for state trial judges throughout the country at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.
Tom and I also put together another sentencing experiment for the same trial judges: a sentencing report (theft case using a gender neutral first name for the defendant) and companion videos (one showing a male defendant and the other a female), which when presented to the judges showed a bias in favor of the female defendant.
I am pleased to share these few random thoughts and contribute to this celebration of Tom’s success and admiration in both academia and among legal practitioners.
I most remember trying to walk as fast as Tom on our way to the courthouse and never being able to keep up without breaking into a trot. Tom used the privilege of a law degree with gusto and zeal, not just to help the most unfortunate, but to fundamentally shake up the system — all while disguised as a mild-mannered, harmless lawyer. The example and experience he provided are the primary reasons I finished school and practice law.
Thanks to Tom for his leadership of the amazing Northwestern clinic, which fueled my interest in public service and prepared me for a legal career in the public interest.
When I think of my favorite part of law school, it was my time in the Legal Clinic. When I think of the Legal Clinic, I think of the wonderful energy, inspiration, talent and heart of Tom Geraghty. Best of luck, Tom, in all your new endeavors, and thank you so much for all you shared us and with the world!
Tom is a very humble and respectful Professor that I’ve ever known. I never took any course with him, but I know that he is one of the best Law Professors at Northwestern Law School. I was an Internationals Student at Northwestern when I first met Tom. He came to one of our Human Rights classes and introduced himself. When we finished the class, I met Tom and told him that I’m from Africa. He was happy to see me there and took me to lunch. He shared me some of his works and projects in Africa. I was so humbled and amazed by his experiences. He knows everything! I never forget his advice and guidance. Thank you Tom for your contribution – you have helped a lot of people and shaped the legal system of many countries around the world.
I was a student in the Clinic prior to my graduation from NULS in 1991. The Clinic felt like “home” to me: a place in the law school that wasn’t corporate in nature, that required students to interact with real people with real legal problems, and that forced us as students to be real lawyers; those were invaluable lessons for those of us who aspired to go out and practice law for individuals. Tom led and nurtured that “legal laboratory” for students. Thank you, Tom, you’ve been a powerful and kind inspiration for a lot of students, me included!
I have known Tom since the 1960s. We have been on the same side and on different sides of various issues. Tom is one of the finest lawyers I have encountered in my over 50 years as an attorney. More importantly, Tom is one of the finest human beings I have encountered in my 77 years. Watching Tom has taught me much about the law and more about how to live life.
Best wishes, Tom.
The trips that I took with Tom Geraghty to the Cook County Court at 26th and California, and the Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, were two of the most educational and thought-transforming experiences I had in law school and in my early career. As my first-year advisor Tom was candid, helpful, and wise in guiding me through the mysterious law school experience. Tom gave me valuable lessons in law and life, and I’ve realized more and more since then how unique and influential Tom is. I appreciate having the opportunity to learn from Tom. Thank you!
I probably am as old as your are, if not older (class of ’81). I’m sure you do not remember me, and why should you, since I pursued a very different career path from your own. I first worked for large firms, because in those days it was available and big money. Later I switched to small firms and finally to a solo practice. I’m sure this is hard to understand, , but middle class people buying their first home or elderly folks (of which I’m one now!) wanting to end their life with with dignity and whatever is left of their estate to whom they want, are seeking justice too. It’s not like the incredible justice you worked for, your whole career, but it always felt wonderful after the transaction/event to get those cards that said “you did a good job.” You taught me, in a quiet, even way, that justice, real justice, matters, and for that I cannot thank you enough.
I am with Tom in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania as I write. He is here to assist Professor Ron Allen and his team of students, of which I am one, with a collaborative effort to reform the Criminal Procedure Act of Tanzania. When I heard that Tom would be stepping down from his role as Director of the Clinic, I did not hesitate to congratulate him, and I was so glad that I could do so in person. Tom has made the Bluhm Legal Clinic the best law school clinic in the world. The Clinic runs like a well-oiled machine, and the results that it produces chart better futures for all of us. Tom has done everything that a person can do to make our world a more just place, where the most vulnerable among us are treated with respect, where we understand that we are all in this together. The vibrancy of everyone who works in the clinic resonates with the calm yet confident determination of Tom Geraghty. I am comforted by the fact that Tom will continue to give everything he has to the greater good. I am confident that he and Northwestern Law will find a new leader for the Clinic that continues Tom’s tradition of creating a wonderful place to work against some of the worst injustices in our world. Tom has shown me that it takes letting go of myself to work on behalf of others. His fight has been one for the very soul of this world. If we were more like Tom, we would think before we speak, and we would consider all the repercussions of our actions. I am proud to say that I know Tom. I am so grateful to have seen what he does. I have a better sense of what it takes to fight the fights that must be fought. Congratulations to Tom. He deserves them.
I just read the news! I was fortunate to have Tom as my supervisor while I was a student at the Clinic. Through him, I learned so much about the law, how to be a great lawyer, and about people. Tom visited my courtroom last week with a group of out-of-town students-always the teacher. And he still has that same easy smile I remember when we first met about 40 years ago. I have let that fact fool me into thinking I’m not getting older. But with this news… Tom has touched the lives of so many in our law school community. I am very proud to say he has helped make me the lawyer-and Judge-that I am today. Congratulations!
My memory of Professor Geraghty is a bit different than others. I am grateful for his guidance to the Judicial Board. He led a bunch of inexperienced law students flummoxed by the arguments of counsel. Thank you for your wisdom — and congratulations on all of your stunning accomplishments.
I can never repay the lessons that Tom taught me when I worked in the clinic my first summer. There are too many to mention — but I will describe the one that I still think of often, 30 years later.
My first case in the clinic was a fourteen year-old boy convicted of raping a four year-old relative. The boy had been scentenced to a juvenile residential center, far away from his family, where the boy was repeatedly sexually brutalized by other boys. The boy attempted suicide, and ended up in one of the all-too-few pediatric beds in a psychiatric facility in Chicago. He disclosed the rapes that had happened in the juvenile center, and the boys who hurt him were prosecuted. Meanwhile, our boy made progress with his depression, and now the state wanted to send him back to the same juvenile facility where he had been repeatedly victimized. As we drove to the Chicago facility to meet with the boy for the first time, I looked at Tom and wondered, “How could anyone feel compassion for a 14 year-old who raped a 4 year-old? Who cares what happens to a rapist?”
Well, Tom cared, and that first meeting was life-changing for me. I had never met anyone with such low self esteem as that boy. Tom immediately worked to build the boy’s self esteem from the moment Tom walked in the door. The boy reacted like no one in his life had ever cared about him before — and I suspected that was the case. I realized that the boy was a child first, and a rapist only because a life of being raped was all he knew. The boy spoke openly to Tom about the men in the boy’s family who had victimized him from the time he was little. Tom helped me to understand that the boy was a victim who became an abuser because the boy didn’t know better. Now that the boy understood that it was wrong, he was extremely remorseful.
Tom and I worked very hard to find a better solution than sending the boy back to the place where other boys had raped him. But Tom immediately started working at the issues from a bigger perspective. Why are there so few pediatric psychiatric beds and what could be done to change that? Why are there so few residential detention placements that the boy had to be sent back to the same place where the kids victimized him? And why are there no juvenile detention centers near his family, so that his mother could visit him?
Tom taught me to never accept things the way they are, but to always work to make them better. “Don’t look at the way things are,” Tom told me, “look at the way they should be.”
you on your next steps look forward to seeing you uo north this summer have had a great run all the best
Tom Geraghty has been the peerless captain of the Bluhm Legal Clinic for much longer than I’ve worked here, but throughout my time in the Clinic I’ve been moved by the interest, intelligence, and gracious good humor he has shown towards everyone who makes the Clinic work: students, faculty, and staff alike. I believe the warm, hard-working atmosphere of the Clinic is a trickle-down effect that starts at the top, and the Clinic won’t be the same without him.
I’ve been asked to tell a story about Tom Geraghty as we in the Northwestern Law community come to grips with the fact that Tom is stepping down as the Director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic. To be sure, over the span of 25 years of working with Tom, co-counseling on cases with him, co-teaching with him, and serving as his Assistant Director, I have a few recollections of great moments of Tom in the courtroom and in the classroom. But for me, my more vivid memories are of Tom working in collaboration with others — leading faculty meetings, strategizing about how to improve the status and job security of clinical professors, hosting clinical law professors from around the globe, sitting in his office or a conference room surrounded by students, or brainstorming about how to achieve juvenile and criminal justice reform in Cook County.
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