Admitted to practice law by the Supreme Court of Maryland, and before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Fifth Circuits.

Tom also has practiced, through admission pro hac vice or as government counsel, before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, Eastern District of Louisiana, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, Eastern District of Virginia, Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Florida, Southern District of Texas, District of New Jersey, District of Massachusetts, District of Hawaii, Southern District of Georgia, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Southern District of Mississippi, and Northern District of Illinois.

Tom graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he finished third in his class.  He also served as editor-in-chief of the Maryland Journal of International Law and received the faculty’s Roger Howell Achievement Award.  A graduate of Maine Maritime Academy, Tom later upgraded his merchant marine license and sailed as second mate of vessels of any gross tons upon oceans with STCW 2010 certification.

Tom is a proctor in the Maritime Law Association, where he serves as vice chair of the Government Counsel Committee.  He is also a Captain in U.S. Navy Reserve, with multiple deployments to combat theaters, most recently as Staff Judge Advocate to a special operations unit.  Tom’s hobbies include sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.  He lectors at St. Bernadette parish in Silver Spring, Md., and volunteers as the trustee for a charitable special-needs trust.

Lecture on Maritime Forfeitures for the Russo-Ukrainian War Course, Yale Law School (Nov. 2022)

“Russian Sanctions and Civil Forfeitures” (Lecture), Maritime Law Association, Int’l Organizations Conventions & Standards Committee, New York (May 2022)

“Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships” (Lecture), Yearly Operational Law Training Symposium, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI (Sept. 2021)

“Offshore in the South China Sea” (Lecture), Yearly Operational Law Training Symposium, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI (Sept. 2020)

“Military Planning & Litigation Exposure” (Lecture), Yearly Operational Law Training Symposium, U.S. Naval War College, Newport RI (Oct. 2019)

Piracy Waters:  Notes from the Field(s), 15 Loyola Mar. L.J. 189 (June 2016)

“Piracy Waters:  Notes from the Field(s)” (Lecture), University of Texas Admiralty and Maritime Law Conference (Jan. 21, 2016)

For the “Round and Top of Sovereignty”: Boarding Foreign Vessels at Sea on Terror-related Intelligence Tips, 59 Naval Law R. 63 (2010)