Tom Allen
Instructor, University of Pittsburgh’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
2023
Tom Allen is a lawyer who practiced for over 40 years with the global law firm Reed Smith LLP until his retirement at the end of 2021. Tom is currently an instructor with the University of Pittsburgh’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, teaching courses about the U.,S. Supreme Court and other legal topics. In the summer of 2023 Tom taught a course about the trial of Robert Bowers, who in August of 2023 was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering eleven worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018. Tom obtained a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1977 and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980.
The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.
