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 catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.
