Tom is a tenured professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law where he teaches trusts, estates, ethics, equity, and related fields. Tom is an academic fellow and former state chair of ACTEC (the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel), a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC), and a life fellow and state chair of the American Bar Foundation. He founded the South Dakota State Bar's Elder Law Committee, has twice chaired the South Dakota State Bar Association's Real Property, Probate and Trusts Section, and is also a member of the Bar's Ethics, Indian Law, and Diversity and Inclusion committees. He previously served on the South Dakota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.Tom founded Pooled Advocate Trust, Inc. (PATI), a nonprofit organization which established South Dakota's first pooled asset protection trust for individuals with disabilities. His civic involvements include having serving as a member of the board of directors of the Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity, the United Way of the Black Hills, the Dakotas United Methodist Foundation, the Western Dakota Technical Institute Foundation, the Rapid City Arts Foundation (as President), Lifeways, Inc., the Friends of the Rapid City Public Library (also as President), the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles, the West River Estate and Financial Planning Council (as Vice President) and the Alzheimer's Association-South Dakota. He is a lifetime member of the Clay County Historical Society, the Mount Rushmore Society, the Latin Liturgy Association, and the American Society for Legal History. He practices law part-time at Thompson Law, PLLC, in an of counsel role.