Kline Commits $50 Million to Duquesne University to Name Regulation Faculty

Gift is most significant in College history 

Thomas R. Kline, a single of the nation’s most influential and very regarded demo lawyers, has dedicated $50 million to supply transformational guidance to Duquesne’s 111-yr-old law school. Duquesne University President Ken Gormley declared that the Pittsburgh university will identify the present by naming its legislation college the Thomas R. Kline School of Regulation of Duquesne University. 

In a dramatic celebration on Wednesday, Sept. 7, pupils, college, distinguished alumni and a host of dignitaries gathered for the unveiling of a sign bearing the school’s new identify, and a celebration of this historic announcement. 

Kline’s determination will broadly assist student scholarships, faculty grants for excellence in teaching and scholarship, the regulation school’s famous Bar Preparation program, new clinical offerings that gain the local community and other strategic priorities. Mr. Kline has provided the University huge latitude in how most effective to make investments the methods to increase their added benefits for college students and the institution.

“It is enormously meaningful for Duquesne to have our law college named for an individual whose occupation results is synonymous with excellence in the lawful career,” said Gormley, who previously served as dean of the law school. “We are grateful that Tom Kline has selected to aid his alma mater with these kinds of a transformational reward, recognizing the several contributions to culture and the occupation that our college students and alumni have produced for far more than a century. We’re proud that just one of our most distinguished alumni, who has represented Duquesne so impressively on a nationwide and worldwide stage, will now help condition the future century of our renowned regulation college. This present will benefit generations of students, graduates and associates of society on a broad scale.” 

Kline’s gift constitutes the single premier determination to Duquesne in its 144-calendar year history. Kline already held the distinction of remaining the largest donor to the law college, with a $7.5 million present in 2017 to launch the Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial Training, which assists the courts in providing continuing judicial education and learning to judges across the Commonwealth. 

“I have very long been happy of my alma mater and have been content to have played a purpose in strengthening its future,” mentioned Kline. “President Ken Gormley and Dean April Barton have speedy designs to empower students and faculty to lead. Their do the job will have a wonderful effects on college students, the region and the career alone. I share their plans and ambitions for the regulation faculty.” 

A champion of legal instruction, Kline is acknowledged to be one particular of America’s most respected and influential legal professionals. He is a founding lover of Kline & Specter, explained by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “a person of the nation’s major individual injuries corporations. The Nationwide Legislation Journal has outlined Kline among “Ten of America’s Prime Litigators.” His groundbreaking conditions have served form the regulation and have resulted in company, institutional and governmental alter and justice for his clients.  

Kline has been selected each individual year as the #1-ranked legal professional among the 65,000 energetic Pennsylvania attorneys by the publication Tremendous Lawyers since its inception in 2004. Lawdragon lists Kline as a single of the top rated 500 lawyers between 1.3 million lively attorneys in The us. He is the past president of the Inner Circle of Advocates, which The Washington Write-up described as “a pick out group of 100 of the nation’s most celebrated demo legal professionals.” 

 Kline realized several landmark jury verdicts courting back to the 1980s with 7- and 8-figure jury verdicts in each and every of 5 many years. The latest achievements include things like his groundbreaking jury verdicts in the Johnson & Johnson/Risperdal litigation, winning an $8 billion verdict for his clientele, and his leadership as Chair of the Plaintiffs Administration Committee, which attained the historic Amtrak 188 settlement. Kline’s advocacy in the Penn Point out/Sandusky litigation and the Piazza fraternity hazing circumstance have similarly acquired national attention.

A graduate and receiver of the Distinguished Alumnus Award at Albright Faculty, Kline attained his M.A. from Lehigh College and his J.D. from Duquesne University University of Legislation in 1978, exactly where he gained the Distinguished Scholar Award and later on earned the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008. He is also an inductee into the Century Club of distinguished alumni at Duquesne College. 

Soon after completing legislation university, Kline clerked for Pennsylvania Supreme Courtroom Justice Thomas W. Pomeroy. He later on served 4 U.S. senators more than two decades, including chairing the Federal Judicial Nominating Fee for the Federal Courts in Pennsylvania for extra than a decade.

The Thomas R. Kline University of Legislation at Drexel College was named for him in 2014, along with the Thomas R. Kline Institute for Trial Advocacy. The Thomas R. Kline Centre for Judicial Training, the to start with of its type in the country, was introduced at Duquesne College all through the 2017-2018 academic yr.

In naming the regulation college at Duquesne, Kline is energizing his alma mater on new fronts: This is the first university to be named at Duquesne College in above a few many years.

“Operating with Tom Kline has been an inspiration and complete pleasure,” claimed legislation school Dean April Barton. “He is an exemplary embodiment of our unique mission. He understands the record and worth of Duquesne’s motivation to academic access and our emphasis on the law as a tool to make certain the welfare of all persons. This is an amazing minute for Duquesne, definitely, as effectively as for the total authorized community. Linking Tom Kline and Duquesne completely in the title of the law college will empower potential legal professionals for generations to arrive.”

About the School of Law 

Given that its founding in 1911, Duquesne’s regulation faculty has centered on providing a lawful training firmly rooted in the pursuit of excellence and the greatest standards of moral carry out. Its graduates serve others by means of skillful representation premised upon integrity and a motivation to attaining justice and fairness for all trying to get redress as a result of the authorized method.