Thomas C. Galligan Jr.

Biography

Thomas C. Galligan Jr. is a law professor at the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He holds the Dodson and Hooks Endowed Chair in Maritime Law, the James Huntington and Patricia Kleinpeter Odom Professorship of Law, and the Edwin W. Edwards Distinguished Professorship. He teaches and writes about Torts and Admiralty. From Jan. 1, 2020, to July 5, 2021, Galligan served as LSU President (he was initially named Interim President, but the Board of Supervisors later retroactively removed the interim title). As President, Galligan served as both the chief executive of LSU’s eight campuses and leader of the university’s flagship campus in Baton Rouge. He now holds the rank of President Emeritus.

From 2016 to 2019, Galligan served as Dean of the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. From 2006 to 2016, Galligan served as the President of Colby-Sawyer College, a private liberal arts based college in New London, New Hampshire. Galligan also held a faculty position and regularly taught at Colby-Sawyer College, and he holds the rank of Emeritus Professor.

Prior to leading Colby-Sawyer, Galligan served as Dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law from 1998 to 2006. He started his academic career at LSU in 1986 as a Professor of Law. During his first tenure at the university, students named him the Outstanding LSU Professor six times. From 1995 to 1998, he also served as the Executive Director of the Louisiana Judicial College.

Galligan is a member of the Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Previously, he served as a member (2007-2015) and as chair of the American Bar Association Accreditation Committee (2013-2015). He has been a member of and chaired several site evaluation teams for the ABA and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Galligan is a frequent continuing legal education speaker on his areas of expertise, having given more than 250 speeches and presentations to judges, lawyers, and others on subjects including Torts, Admiralty, Complex Litigation, Professionalism, and more. In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, he testified three times before congressional committees considering amendments to the Death on the High Seas Act and other applicable maritime statutes.

His scholarship has been cited by numerous courts including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, various United States District Courts, the Louisiana Supreme Court, and various State Appellate Courts.

He holds an A.B. in Political Science from Stanford University, a J.D. from Seattle University School of Law, where he graduated summa cum laude and first in his class, and an LL.M. from the Columbia University Law School.

Galligan resides in Baton Rouge with his wife, Susan.

Selected Publications

Revisiting “Sanchez:” Turning Short Round, 27 Loyola Maritime Law Journal (forthcoming)

History and Constitutional Interpretation: What’s Really "There?", 23 The University of New Hampshire Law Review (forthcoming)

Dissecting Evans v. Abubaker, Inc.: Who Decides Scope of Liability in Louisiana Negligence Cases? Who Should Decide? 71 Loyola Law Review (forthcoming)

How Well Do Sinkler and Hopson Float: Vital Operations, Nondelegable Duties, and Agency in FELA and Jones Act Cases?, St. Mary’s L.J. (forthcoming, co-authored with Andrew Hughes)

Policy and Poppycock in Proximate Cause Cases A/K/A Scope of Liability and Starting to Make Sense, FIU L. Rev. (forthcoming)

The Medical/Legal/Human Disconnect in Cure Cases: A Proposal for Reform, 48 Tul. Mar. L. J. 193 (2024)

Tort Law—The American and Louisiana Perspectives, with John M. Church, William R. Corbett, and Thomas M. Flanagan (4^th ed. 2023)

“Sieracki” Lives: A Portrait of the Interplay Between Legislation and the Judicially Created Maritime Law, 47 Tul. Mar. L. J. 1 (2023)

Continued Conflation Confusion in Louisiana Negligence Cases: Duty and Breach, 97 Tul. L. Rev. 339 (2023)

The “Nature” of Seaman Status After Sanchez, 82 La. L. Rev. 1 (2021)

Multidistrict Litigation, with Richard J. Arsenault, A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions by Marcy Hogan Greer (3d ed. 2021)

Even the Slightest: Causation in FELA and Jones Act Cases, , 15 Charleston L. Rev. 253 (2021)

There are More Things to Punitive Damages That the 1:1 Ration Set Forth in Exxon’s Legal Philosophy, 81 La. L. Rev. 395 (2021)

A Cypress is Gone, 80 La. Rev. 291 (2020) (A tribute to Professor David W. Robertson)

LHWCA Section 905(b) and Scindia: The Confused Tale of a Legal Pendulum, 80 La. L. Rev. 305 (2020) (co-authored with Brian Colomb)

Let the Jury Decide!  A Plea for the Proper Allocation of Decision Making Authority in Louisiana Negligence Cases, 94 Tulane Law Review 769 (2020)

The Structure of Torts, 46 Florida State Univ. Law Review 485 (2019)

The Structure of Torts, 46 Florida State Univ. Law Review (2019)

Deaning Redux---Walking It Back, University of Toledo Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Winter 2019) It’s the Ambiance, 86 UMKC L. Rev. 515 (2018)

OCLSA, The LHWCA, Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid, and the New Substantial  - Nexus Requirement, 37 Tul. Mar. L.J. (2012)

Displacement and Preemption:  The OPA's Effect on General Maritime Law and State Tort Law Punitive Damages Claims, with Brittan J. Bush, 42 Cumb. L. Review 1 (2011-2012)

A Sad Tale of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, Normal Accidents, and our Appetite for Risk, 17 Roger Williams U. L. Rev. 264 (2012)

Teaching Admiralty, 55 St. Louis U. L.J. 579 (2011)

Death at Sea:  A Sad Tale of Disaster, Injustice, and Unnecessary Risk, 71 La. L. Rev. 787 (2011)

Pilot Lloyd, 78 Tenn. L. Rev. 643 (2011)

Selected Books

Tort Law—The American and Louisiana Perspectives, with John M. Church, William R. Corbett, and Thomas M. Flanagan (4^th ed. 2023)

Admiralty in a Nutshell, with Frank L. Maraist, Dean Sutherland, and Sarah Kuebel (8th ed.) (2022)

Cases and Materials on Maritime Law, with Frank L. Maraist, Dean Sutherland, and Sarah Kubel (4^th ed. 2022)

Louisiana Lawyering, with Frank L. Maraist, N. Gregory Smith, and Catherine Maraist (Thomson West 2006) (Supplements 2016)

Cases and Materials on Maritime Law, with Frank L. Maraist, Catherine M. Maraist, and Dean Sutherland (West, 3d ed. 2016)

Louisiana Lawyering, with Frank L. Maraist, N. Gregory Smith, and Thomas F. Daley (West 2006) (Supplements 2008-2015)

Louisiana Tort Law, with Frank L. Maraist (2004 ed., Supplements 2005-2014)