Get to know our new faculty: Professor Tom Donnelly
What brought you to Richmond Law?
I always knew that Richmond Law had an amazing public law faculty, but, when I first visited the campus, I was most impressed with the collegiality of the place. In all of my conversations with students, faculty, and staff, everyone spoke of the cooperative and kind atmosphere, and I could feel it myself as soon as I set foot on campus.
How would you describe your career path to this point?
Circuitous, but rewarding. Throughout my career, I’ve always tried to pursue opportunities that would allow me to both continue to learn new things and serve the public in meaningful ways. After college, I worked as a political consultant, specializing in public opinion polling. After law school, I clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Following that amazing experience, I was able to find a nice combination of scholarly and practical experiences—teaching at great places like Penn and Harvard; studying with terrific scholars at Princeton; serving as a public-interest lawyer in Washington, D.C., where I worked on an awesome mix of Supreme Court amicus briefs, legal commentary, and communications strategies around judicial nominations and blockbuster Supreme Court cases; and serving as chief content officer at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where I had the chance to curate museum exhibits, develop civics curricula for high school and middle school students (including overseeing content for Khan Academy’s first introductory course on the Constitution), moderate scholarly conversations, and work with some of the leading constitutional scholars in the country on a variety of projects. Now, I get to teach at a fantastic law school. I’ve been very lucky!
What has surprised you about Richmond Law?
As I’ve already mentioned, I’ve been struck from the moment I interviewed here through the law school’s decision to hire me and all the way up to today with how kind and generous everyone has been. Whether it’s sharing ideas about how to organize my classes to the best schools and activities for my children to the best neighborhoods to raise a family to every small detail surrounding my move. I look forward to having the opportunity to offer similar advice to new members of the faculty in the future years.
What advice would you give to current Richmond Law students for the coming year?
Harness the energy and expertise of our amazing faculty, and find your passion in the law. I love constitutional law, but I’ve had friends that have fallen in love with pretty much every area of the law—litigation, bankruptcy, tax, family law, immigration law, the list goes on and on. And if you’re a fellow constitutional nerd, aspiring nerd, or someone new to the field and want to learn from someone who loves the Constitution and loves to teach, please don’t hesitate to enroll in one of my classes!
What would you recommend that students do outside of law school?
Remain connected to the people and things that you love. Law school can be such an all-encompassing experience that we can sometimes forget to continue to be full human beings. That was certainly true of long stretches of my own law school experience. So, if you love Stephen Sondheim musicals, spend twenty minutes listening to some of your favorite numbers from Sunday in the Park with George or Company. If you love to watch sports or reality TV or classic films, continue to carve out time to watch them. If you love to go to concerts or to the theater, schedule a special outing or two each semester with some friends. If you haven’t talked to your family or your best friend in a while, get in touch with them. If you have a significant other, continue to make time for them. Don’t let law school swallow you whole.