Gary S. Gildin

Emeritus Dean; Professor of Law, Hon. G. Thomas and Anne G. Miller Chair in Advocacy; Director, Center for Public Interest Law and Advocacy

Gary S. Gildin joined Dickinson Law’s faculty in 1979 after graduating from Stanford Law School and spending three years as a civil litigator with Sonnenschein Carlin Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons) in Chicago, Illinois. He served as dean of the Law School from 2013 to 2019.

Throughout his career at the Law School, Professor Gildin completed three sabbaticals, including a U.S. Canada Fulbright Grant to serve as visiting chair in international humanitarian law, University of Ottawa; assistant public defender, Public Defender Office, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania; and law clerk to the Hon. Sylvia H. Rambo, United States District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania. Over his career, Professor Gildin has taught Trial Advocacy, Civil Liberties Litigation, Protection of Individual Rights under State Constitutions, Legal Argument and Factual Persuasion, Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence Professional Responsibility, Remedies, Comparative Civil Liberties (summer program in International Law in Florence, Italy), and Law and Medicine (Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center). Professor Gildin also has taught Legal Methods, Research and Writing as part of the Council on Legal Education Opportunity Pre-Law Summer Institute.

Professor Gildin has continued to engage in pro bono litigation on behalf of people alleging infringement of their constitutional rights, including arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court in Bowen v. Roy, and before the Third Circuit in the racial profiling case Raphael Christopher v. Frederick Nestlerode et al.

Professor Gildin received has analyzed draft law assessments for the Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Armenia, and the Ukraine. He regularly teaches in international, national, and statewide continuing legal education programs that enhance the trial skills of practicing attorneys and has given more than 60 lectures on a variety of legal topics at universities, industry association events, and conferences around the country.

Professor Gildin has authored more than 40 books, book chapters, articles, continuing legal education publication chapters and book reviews. He co‐authored the second edition of Trial Advocacy Basics, published by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. He is the recipient of several awards and honors, including the Roscoe Pound Foundation’s Jacobson Award for excellence in the teaching the art and skills of trial advocacy. He has held several board and committee memberships, such as serving as a discipline peer reviewer in law for the Council for International Exchange of Scholars Fulbright Scholar Program.