[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 30, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1863-S1864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DONALD B. TOBIN

 Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I rise to recognize the 
outstanding leadership of Donald B. Tobin, Esquire, as dean of the 
University of Maryland Francis Carey King School of Law, following his 
announcement that he will step down at the end of the 2021-2022 
academic year and return to full-time teaching as a member of the 
Maryland Carey Law faculty. This decision concludes an 8-year chapter 
in service to the school's 645 students, 176 faculty members, and 
thousands of alumni. Dean Tobin has been a tireless advocate and 
instructor who truly treasures the law school community.
  Donald Tobin has been dean and professor of law at my alma mater, the 
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law located in 
Baltimore City, since 2014. Under his leadership, the law school has 
built upon two centuries of distinguished history to deliver its core 
academic mission of integrating legal theory and practice, serving as a 
resource and partner to neighboring communities and training the next 
generation of excellent lawyers and leaders. As dean, he has risen to 
meet the unprecedented challenges of the last decade.
  Donald Tobin grew up in Columbia, MD, and began his career on Capitol 
Hill, as a professional staff member for my predecessor, the inimitable 
U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes. Donald also staffed the Senate Committee on 
the Budget and the Joint Economic Committee. He worked on the Hill 
before, during, and after the time he was attending law school at 
Georgetown University, where he earned his J.D. in 1996. It was here in 
this Chamber that Donald first contributed to policy at the national 
level. He went on to serve as a law clerk for the Honorable Francis 
Murnaghan, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and 
as an appellate attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of 
Justice. Donald remains a leading expert on the intersection of tax and 
campaign finance laws, an area of law more critical to our democracy 
today than ever before.
  Donald was professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs 
and associate dean for faculty at the Ohio State University Moritz 
College of Law before he decided to come back home to Maryland. Given 
his wealth of expertise, I am particularly excited for him to rejoin 
the faculty as a professor in this next phase of his career. Donald has 
demonstrated an abiding passion for education, scholarship, and the 
public service mission of the law school. He has wisely invested his 
time in understanding the needs of the Maryland legal and nonprofit 
community. And he has fostered a supportive community that provides 
personalized learning experiences, which empower the school's students 
to realize countless possible career pathways.
  Donald has always provided a welcoming presence around the school. He 
has taught the popular ``Lawyers as Leaders'' class, and he has put his 
tax law knowledge and Maryland Bar membership to use by working with 
students in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.
  The Clinical Law Program makes experiential education a core 
component of the law school's curriculum, and it makes advancing access 
to justice a prerequisite for graduation. This program is unique among 
law schools nationally.
  The law school requires every student who initially enrolls as a 
first year, full-time day student to provide legal services to people 
who are poor or otherwise lack access to justice in order to graduate--
a provision known as the ``Cardin Requirement,'' which I championed. It 
attracts students who care deeply about their clients and their 
communities.
  It is no surprise that students attracted to a law school for its 
spirit of excellence in public service would choose someone of Donald's 
character for its leader. He brings that same personal attention to the 
law school's relationships among its many constituents, the bar, and 
the surrounding community.
  Donald's positivity and kind nature were critical to his success 
throughout a deanship ``book-ended'' by unthinkable events. In the 
aftermath of the killing of Freddie Gray in the spring of 2015, Donald 
led efforts to expand the law school's positive impact in the 
community, bolstering channels to local volunteer opportunities and 
providing forums for students and faculty to explore the systemic 
causes that led to Baltimore's unrest and to possible solutions. Donald 
redoubled the school's efforts to recruit and retain highly qualified 
and diverse students, while keeping legal education accessible and 
affordable. Our law firms, judicial benches, and nonprofit leadership 
should all equitably reflect Maryland's population. Donald's commitment 
to facilitating an inclusive law school community has brought us closer 
to this imperative.
  As a member of the Law School Board of Visitors, I greatly appreciate 
Donald's support for establishing the Honorable Elijah E. Cummings `76 
Scholarship Endowment at the law school in 2019. The scholarship pays 
apt tribute to our former colleague--another luminary of the Maryland 
congressional delegation--and to his many contributions to his District 
and to our

[[Page S1864]]

Nation as one of our most distinguished alumni. Board of visitors 
member and former chair Bob Kim--class of 1983--has spearheaded 
establishing the scholarship, which will support law school students 
who have an interest in public service, a record of academic 
excellence, and demonstrated financial need.
  Toward what would be the end of his time as dean, Donald maintained a 
cohesive law school community despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustained 
high turnout at virtual versions of beloved events such as the alumni 
honors banquet and Morris Brown Myerowitz Moot Court Competition 
evinced this resilience and unity, with alumni volunteers serving as 
mock judges or interviewers, during a time of social distancing.
  Even before the global pandemic, Donald took an active role in 
protecting student health and well-being, instituting Kindness Week to 
promote student resources and self-care in partnership with the board 
of visitors.
  William Butler Yeats wrote, ``Education is not the filling of a pot 
but the lighting of a fire.'' For over 20 years now, Donald Tobin has 
been lighting fires among his students, and their glow has brought 
light to the law school community, the city, our State, and the Nation. 
I thank him for his tremendous service to the law school's students, 
faculty, staff and alumni, and I wish him well on this exciting new 
chapter in his exemplary career.

                          ____________________