Thomas G. Wilkinson Jr., Esquire
2023 Professionalism Award for the Third Circuit
Profile in Professionalism: The Bencher September/October 2023
By Rebecca A. Clay
How does Dale G. Larrimore, Esquire, past president of the Villanova Law J. Willard O’Brien American Inn of Court, characterize fellow member Thomas Wilkinson Jr.? “Without a doubt, he is seen as the ‘go-to person’ for any ethical conundrum facing an attorney in this Commonwealth,” Larrimore says. “In an increasingly polarized society, Tom helps to bring us together in our understanding of what we need to know to uphold the highest standards of the legal profession and the rule of law.”
A member of the law firm Cozen O’Connor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilkinson is co-editor of the Pennsylvania Ethics Handbook and hard at work on the sixth edition. The latest edition will include more guidance in areas such as harassment and discrimination, handling of client funds, and texting, emails, and other ways lawyers communicate. “I am responsible for the chapter on conflicts of interest—the biggest, most complicated chapter,” Wilkinson says. For more than three decades, Wilkinson has also edited ethics opinion summaries for The Pennsylvania Lawyer magazine.
At Cozen O’Connor, Wilkinson specializes in commercial litigation and appellate work. One of his focus areas is legal profession services. “I do a lot of work with lawyers and law firms, providing guidance to them concerning their ethical responsibilities,” he says, explaining that firms may not have their own in-house experts on matters such as conflicts of interest, sanctions and disqualifications, and disputes with clients. He also chairs his firm’s Professional Responsibility Committee, helping Cozen O’Connor’s 800-plus lawyers with their own ethical issues.
A would-be journalist, Wilkinson first became interested in law by writing a magazine article on juvenile justice during his college years at the University of New Hampshire, where he earned a magna cum laude undergraduate degree in political science in 1978. After Wilkinson received his law degree in 1981 from Villanova University School of Law, where he served as managing editor of the Villanova Law Review, he became an associate at a major law firm where he helped the firm’s general counsel prepare ethics opinions, sparking his own interest in the area of legal ethics. “Ethics has been a passion of mine for well over 30 years,” he says.
Wilkinson served as president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association from 2012 to 2013. One initiative he is especially proud of is the task force he created to propose updates to the state’s code of judicial conduct.
“The task force issued an excellent report, which was approved by the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s policy making body called the House of Delegates,” he says. The association then submitted the proposal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. “The court thereafter substantially amended and updated the code of judicial conduct. I am very pleased with how that played out.”
Wilkinson now co-chairs the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Civility and Professionalism Committee, which was established four years ago.
Wilkinson also led the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility for nearly a dozen years. From 2008 to 2009, he served as president of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the bar association’s continuing legal education arm. Since 2021, he has also been a member of the board of governors of the American Bar Association. He served as the association’s Pennsylvania state delegate from 2019 to 2021.
Wilkinson is a member of the Villanova Law J. Willard O’Brien American Inn of Court. In 2013, he and his wife, Kathleen, also an attorney, received the Inn’s J. Clayton Undercofler III, Esq. ’66 Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes those whose career and service to the Inn exemplify an extraordinary level of leadership, integrity, and dedication to the legal profession and rule of law.
“The values of the Inns of Court movement resonate with me,” Wilkinson says. “It is important for lawyers to lead the conversation on civics, civility, judicial independence, and the rule of law.”
Wilkinson has also been an active Villanova Law alumnus. He taught a course on the legal profession at the law school for a decade. In 2013, he received the Villanova Law Alumni Association Gerald Abraham Award for Service in recognition of his contributions in helping the law school achieve its goals.
When not working, Wilkinson is an avid tennis player, a “mediocre golfer,” and a traveler, although he admits he has not had a vacation since a trip to play golf in Scotland six years ago. He plans to combine two of those interests in an upcoming vacation, a trip to Ireland to play golf with his son.
© 2023 American Inns of Court. This article was originally published in the September/October 2023 issue of The Bencher,
a bi-monthly publication of the American Inns of Court. This article,
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