Tom has advised clients in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors on governance, finance, and real estate matters for over 35 years. A past president of the Pennsylvania Association of Bond Lawyers, he is active as bond counsel in tax-exempt financing transactions for nonprofits, school districts, and municipalities. He is a shareholder at Knox Law—a 40-member firm based in Erie, with offices in Pittsburgh, and Jamestown, New York— and served as the firm’s President from 2007 to 2026. He is currently included in The Best Lawyers in America® for Public Finance Law, Health Care Law, Real Estate Law, and Land Use & Zoning Law.
Tom is a graduate of Westminster College and Harvard Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, having served on its Consultative Groups for the Restatement of the Law, Charitable Nonprofit Organizations, and Principles of the Law, Compliance, Risk Management, and Enforcement. He is a member of the Charitable Organizations Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is active in several other professional organizations.
In addition to his extensive professional service to nonprofits, Tom has volunteered on several nonprofit boards. He is Chair of The Erie Community Foundation, and a director of the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the Warner Theatre Preservation Trust. He is past board chair of Westminster College, UPMC Hamot, the Erie County Historical Society, Northwestern Legal Services, and the Erie City Mission. He is a past board member of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, Hamot Health Foundation, The Nonprofit Partnership, the United Way of Erie County, the Foundation for Erie’s Public Schools, and UPMC.
