About Thomas Ehrlich
Tom Ehrlich received his LL.B., magna cum laude, from the Harvard School of Law in 1959. He served as law clerk for Judge Learned Hand in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, New York City (1959–60). From 1960 to 1962, he practiced with Foley, Sammond & Lardner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as special assistant to the legal advisor in the Department of State (1962–65) and as special assistant to the undersecretary of state in international negotiations (1964–65).
Ehrlich was a professor of law at Stanford University (1965–71) and dean of the Stanford Law School (1971–75). In 1976, Ehrlich returned to Washington. He was the first president of the Legal Services Corporation, a nonprofit organization established by federal statute to support legal assistance to the poor (1976–79) and was appointed by President Carter as director of the International Development Agency (1979–80).
Ehrlich held two major academic positions: provost of University of Pennsylvania (1982–87) and president of Indiana University (1987–94). He has since served as distinguished university scholar at California State University (1995–2000) and senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (1997–2007).
Explore the complete oral history of Thomas Ehrlich