Shipman & Goodwin’s Tom Mooney, right, receives the Professional Excellence Award from Dwight Merriam of Robinson + Cole.

Tom was recognized for his outstanding service to the legal profession during his long and distinguished career. In selecting this year’s award winners, a panel of judges considered not only success in the courtroom, but other factors such as law firm and bar association leadership, advocacy roles, pro bono contributions and service on state and federal bar panels.

Tom’s contributions to the legal profession, and to school law in particular, are nearly unrivaled. He has long been considered one of the foremost authorities on school law in Connecticut. When he started practicing law at Shipman & Goodwin in 1976, the firm represented eight school districts. Under Tom’s leadership, its school law practice has grown to well over one hundred school districts and educational entities. Tom has taught hundreds of law students and mentored dozens of lawyers over the years, and the school law practice at Shipman & Goodwin now numbers more than twenty lawyers. In 1994, Tom wrote A Practical Guide to Connecticut School Law, now in its Eighth Edition (2014). Tom teaches Law & Public Education at the University of Connecticut School of Law and Legal Aspects of Education at the Neag School of Education, and many of his students have become attorneys at S&G.

The legal community is not the only group to benefit from Tom’s talents and expertise. CAS has enjoyed an outstanding relationship with Tom for more than two decades, a relationship which has brought many benefits to our organization. From 2001-2014, Tom authored the “Legal Mailbag” column which appeared in the monthly CAS Bulletin. He currently writes a “Legal Question of the Week” for the CAS Weekly NewsBlast, the association’s new email blast. Over the years, Tom has presented countless law-related workshops for our members and has rarely, if ever, accepted compensation for his efforts.

Tom is a fierce advocate for education and a steadfast supporter of CAS. His first love is education, and this is reflected in all that he has done to support CAS and its member schools. We congratulate him on this much deserved honor!