Professor
Thomas
C.
Galligan
Jr.
Thomas C. Galligan Jr. is a law professor at LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, He holds the Dodson and Hooks Endowed Chair in Maritime Law. He teaches and writes about Torts, Admiralty, and Constitutional Law. From January 1, 2020-July 5, 2021, Galligan served as LSU Interim President and then President. As president, Galligan was 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 2016-19, Galligan was the Dean of LSU’s 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; he holds the rank of Emeritus Professor.
Prior to leading Colby-Sawyer, Galligan served as Dean of the University of Tennessee’s College of Law from 1998 to 2010. 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. In 2025 he was honored as LSU Law Professor of the Year. In 2026 he received the H.M. “Hub” Cotton Award for Faculty Excellence from LSU. From 1995-1998, he also served as the Executive Director of the Louisiana Judicial College.
Galligan serves as Vice Chair of the Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Previously, he served as a member and as chair of the American Bar Association Accreditation Committee
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 about 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. He is a 1973 graduate of Montclair-Kimberley Academy.
Galligan resides in Baton Rouge with his wife Susan.