News & Events: Harrisburg Campus

Widener Law names Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice as its first “jurist in residence”

Public Relations - Published: February 15, 2009

Widener Law Dean Linda L. Ammons announces Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Thomas G. Saylor has been named the first distinguished jurist in residence on the school’s Harrisburg campus.

Saylor, a member of the Supreme Court since 1997, is teaching a seminar on constitutional law for students in the school’s Law & Government Institute. As the distinguished jurist in residence, he will also give lectures to the law school community on topics of constitutional law, and he will be available for consultation and exchanges with faculty and law students.

Widener created the Law & Government Institute in 1999, in response to a growing need for the study and development of administrative and constitutional law, especially in the states. Students who study through the institute program earn certificates at graduation that reflect their specialty in areas of administrative/constitutional law, consumer law, environmental law or legislation.

Saylor earned his law degree from Columbia University in 1972 and a master of laws degree in judicial studies from the University of Virginia. He worked in private practice and served as first assistant district attorney of his native Somerset County until 1982, when he was appointed director of the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Protection. In 1984 he was appointed first deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania. Saylor was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1993 and to his current position on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1997. He was retained in 2007 for a second, ten-year term on the Supreme Court. His law review and judicial opinion writing establish his expertise in constitutional law – especially state constitutional law, administrative law and judicial review.

Harrisburg campus Vice Dean John L. Gedid, the director of the Law & Government Institute, said the school was pleased to welcome Saylor in this capacity. Saylor is already a member of the school’s Board of Overseers.

“We are delighted Justice Saylor has agreed to take on this role. He is an expert at constitutional theory and its actual application in the world of legal practice. He will give our students hands-on advice and counsel that will add an important component to the Law & Government curriculum,” Gedid said.

Ammons said Saylor’s contributions will be significant. “Justice Saylor is a distinguished member of the judiciary. It is remarkable for our students and faculty to have this personal access to his legal reasoning and depth of knowledge of the constitution. We are grateful to him for making time to invest in tomorrow’s attorneys this way. They will be better lawyers for it,” she said.

Harrisburg Campus:
3800 Vartan Way
P.O. Box 69380
Harrisburg, PA 17106-9380
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MAIN: 717.541.3900
LIBRARY: 717.541.3933
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Wilmington, DE 19803
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MAIN: 302.477.2100
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