Since coming to the School of Law in 1982, Thomas Hagel has received the 2003 Alumni Association’s President’s Award for his dedication to the growth and development of the School of Law and his commitment to excellence. He is a Master of the Bench of the local American Inn of Court as well as Acting Judge for the Dayton Municipal Court. A a commissioner on the Montgomery County, Ohio, Veterans’ Service Commission, he represents members of Disabled American Veterans. Professor Hagel is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Training Trial Advocates.
As a law student at the University of Nebraska, he was an associate editor and member of the executive committee of the Nebraska Law Review. After graduation, Professor Hagel became a deputy public defender for Lincoln, Nebraska, where he represented criminal clients in more than 200 bench trials, motion hearings and post-trial proceedings in state and federal courts. He was also the lead trial attorney in approximately 20 homicide cases and tried approximately 30 felony cases to a jury. Additionally, he represented indigent clients at civil mental health commitment hearings. While a deputy public defender, he maintained a limited private practice, specializing in criminal, domestic relations, and personal injury cases, and served on a lawyers’ panel for the Nebraska Civil Liberties Union.
Professor Hagel has lectured at the Ohio Judicial College since 1998 and has previously lectured for the Federal Bar Examination for the Southern District of Ohio, Dayton Bar Association, and Nebraska Bar Association. He has also taught at Temple University School of Law, where he was a Law and Humanities Fellow.
He has been named Professor of the Year by School of Law students and was nominated for University Professor of the Year by the dean in 1986. Professor Hagel retired from the University of Dayton School of Law in May 2015.
