Thomas L Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer (born 1934) is a Catholic lawyer, professor, legal ethics scholar, and the most prolific living American legal author, having written over 300 scholarly works.

Thomas L. Shaffer was born in 1934 and is a Roman Catholic. He received his B.A. from the University of Albuquerque in 1958 and his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 1961, cum laude, and he was ranked first in his class and was chosen as editor-in-chief of the law review, the Notre Dame Lawyer. In 1983, he received an honorary LL.D. from St. Mary’s University. Before becoming a professor, Shaffer worked as an attorney with Barnes, Hickam, Pantzer & Boyd from 1961 to 1963 in Indianapolis. Starting in 1963 Shaffer began teaching estate planning at Notre Dame Law School, and then served as associate dean from 1969 to 1971 and as dean from 1971 to 1975. Between 1980 and 1988 Shaffer served as the Robert E.R. Huntley Professor of Law at Washington & Lee University Law School and as the director of the school's Frances Lewis Law Center. In 1988 Shaffer returned to Notre Dame as a full professor and he has recently focused on clinical ethical instruction through the Notre Dame Legal Aid Clinic, which serves the underprivileged in the South Bend area. Shaffer has served as a visiting professor of law at U.C.L.A., University of Virginia, University of Maine, and Boston College Law School. He has written nearly 300 works in various areas of the law including legal ethics, Christianity and the law, estate planning, mediation and other. He is a member of the Society of Christian Ethics, the Jewish Law Association, the AALS Executive Committee, and the ABA accreditation Committee, on the board of advisors of the Journal of Law and Ethics.