College of Law

Dean Emeritus Tomain received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from The George Washington University. He practiced general litigation in New Jersey before beginning his teaching career at Drake University School of Law. He joined the UC Law faculty in 1987 and served as visiting professor at The University of Texas Law School.  He  served as dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Law for 15 years. He has also held positions as: Visiting Environmental Scholar,  Lewis & Clark Law School; Distinguished Visiting Energy Professor, Vermont Law School; Visiting Scholar in the Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame; Visiting Fellow, Harris Manchester College, Oxford University; and Fulbright Senior Specialist in law in Cambodia.

Dean Tomain serves on a number of civic organizations. He is Chair of the Board of the KnowledgeWorks Education Foundation. He is the founder and principal of the Justice Institute for the Legal Profession; Board Member of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation; the Ohio Justice & Policy Center and  the Center for Chemical Addictions Treatment.  He has been actively involved with the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar as well as other state and local bar associations.  Dean Tomain is also a Life Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

He has written extensively in the energy law field and his publications include: Regulatory Law and Policy; Energy Law and Policy for the 21st Century; and, Nuclear Power Transformation among others. He recently published Creon’s Ghost: Law, Justice and the Humanities (Oxford University Press);  Ending Dirty Energy Policy: Prelude to Climate Change (Cambridge University Press).  Dean Tomain has two books forthcoming Achieving Democracy: The Future of Progressive Government (Oxford University Press) and Clean Energy Politics: The Necessity of Innovation (Cambridge University Press).