Thom Brooks

Since 1 August 2016, he has been Head of the Durham Law School and the school's inaugural Dean. As Dean, Brooks introduced Chinese Law into the LLB and LLM curriculum alongside a new annual Chinese law summer school - the first ever in the UK and first time in English outside Asia.

His research on capital punishment is quoted and cited by the Connecticut Supreme Court lead decision in its case of State v. Santiago (Santiago II), 318 Conn. 1, 105 (2015) abolishing capital punishment in Connecticut.

In 2015, the Electoral Commission quotes Brooks in support of its proposed changes to the EU Referendum. They proposed changing the ballot choices to "Remain" and "Leave" and this was later accepted by the UK Government.

Brooks is a member of the British Labour Party and the University and College Union trade union. He has made past comments supporting New Labour and Tony Blair, and supported Liz Kendall in the 2015 Labour leadership contest. He has championed party unity over factionalism and now backs Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

Brooks advises the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. He has expressed support for unity across the Labour Party factions since 2015 and repeatedly following the 2017 General Election. Brooks is cited in Labour's policy commission report on 'stronger, safer communities' that underpinned the 2015 General Election manifesto and advised on Labour's 2017 General Election manifesto and supports Diane Abbott's new immigration reforms.

In 2013, Brooks wrote a report analysing the United Kingdom's new citizenship test. His report was titled "The 'Life in the United Kingdom test': Is It Unfit for Purpose?". He was highly critical of the test, concluding that it was "unfit for purpose". He criticised the test's focus on "British culture and history at the expense of practical knowledge".

In 2012, Brooks joined the Durham Law School, Durham University, as a reader in law, and its Philosophy Department as an associate member. He was appointed professor of Law and Government in 2014. Between 2014 and 2016, he served as Director of the Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at Durham University. In 2015, he was a visiting fellow to Yale Law School, Yale University.

Brooks has been a citizen of the United States since birth. In 2009, he gained indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom. He became a citizen of the United Kingdom in 2011, and therefore holds dual citizenship. His report is cited several times in Parliamentary debates.

In 2009, Brooks was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS). In 2010, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS). In 2012, Brooks was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). In 2014, he was elected a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). In 2018, he became an Academic Bencher of the Honourable Society of Inner Temple.

Brooks started his academic career at Newcastle University. He was a lecturer in political thought from 2004 to 2007. From 2004 to 2005, he was also a visiting fellow at the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, University of St Andrews. In 2007, he was promoted to reader in political and legal philosophy. From 2010 to 2011, he was an academic visitor to the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford and received a visiting fellowship to St John's College, Oxford in 2012. His "Publishing Guide for Graduate Students" is a popular resource for new academics interested in getting published.

Thomas "Thom" Brooks, FRHistS, FAcSS, FRSA, FHEA (born 14 October 1973) is an American-British political philosopher and legal scholar. He has been professor of Law and Government at Durham University since 2014, the Dean of Durham Law School since 2016. He was previously a lecturer then Reader at Newcastle University. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Harvard Law School, University of Pennsylvania's Penn Law School, the University of St Andrews, the University of Oxford, and Yale University's Yale Law School. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Moral Philosophy.

Brooks was born on 14 October 1973 in New Haven, Connecticut and raised nearby in Guilford, Connecticut. He was educated at Xavier High School, an all-boys private Catholic school in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. From 1992 to 1997, he studied at William Paterson University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1997, majoring in music and political science. He then studied political science at Arizona State University and graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1999. He studied for an MA in philosophy at University College Dublin, graduating in 2000 with first class honours. From 2001, he undertook postgraduate research in philosophy at the University of Sheffield under the supervision of Robert Stern and Leif Wenar. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 2004. His doctoral thesis was titled "Taking the System Seriously: Themes in Hegel's Philosophy of Right".