Thomas Morsch is founding Director of the Small Business Opportunity Center (SBOC) at Northwestern University Law School. He served in that capacity from the inception of the program in 1998 until 2008 when he was named Emeritus Director. Prior to joining the faculty at Northwestern, he was a senior partner and member of the Executive Committee at Sidley Austin LLP, a multi-national law firm headquartered in Chicago.

The program at Northwestern expanded over his ten-year tenure to include high-demand courses in Entrepreneurship Law and Social Enterprise, seven seminars on “structuring transactions,” and a year-round clinical program in which law students provide hands-on legal assistance to entrepreneurs, small business owners, and nonprofit organizations.

The SBOC works closely with faculty and students from the University’s engineering, medical, and graduate business schools, and enrolls a large number of law students seeking the combined JD-MBA degree.

In addition to his work at the law school, Professor Morsch has been an active member of the Chicago legal community serving as President of the Chicago Bar Foundation, Public Interest Law Initiative, and Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law. He has received lifetime achievement and equivalent awards from numerous organizations including the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Northwestern University Law School, Loyola University School of Law, Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, the Anti-Defamation League, and Sidley Austin LLP.