CARLISLE, Pa. — Penn State Dickinson Law Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law Gary S. Gildin and his wife, Terri, were driving on a road trip three years ago when he received a phone call from Paula Knudsen Burke, Penn State Dickinson Law class of 2001. More than two decades after graduation, his former student was seeking advice on how to handle opposing counsel during a challenging deposition.
Terri held the phone while Gary drove so that he could offer guidance.
“We talked through the issue, and in the end, everything played out well,” said Knudsen Burke. “The fact that he picked up the phone and talked me off the wall some 20 years after I was his student says a lot. I value his advice. He is still the person I call when I have questions.”
That dedication, focus and unwavering support for his students sum up Gildin’s service to Penn State Dickinson Law, according to colleagues, alumni and friends. After 47 years at the Law School, the Hon. G. Thomas and Anne G. Miller Chair in Advocacy will retire on June 30.
“It has been a joy to work with amazing students and help produce attorneys who are changing people’s lives,” said Gildin. “Our faculty is so lucky. We have highly motivated students who are here because they want to be, and they have a skillset they want to acquire.”
Gildin helped students develop those skills while also demonstrating an attorney’s duty to protect the most vulnerable in society.
“Gary has been the heartbeat of this Law School for decades. He has led the Law School during one of the most challenging times in its existence. Tabling those challenges, Gary's contributions to teaching and learning are legendary. He is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading teachers and scholars of trial advocacy,” said Penn State Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway. “Gary has taught an army of students the art and the science of persuasion. He has also taught them professionalism and civility through radical empathy, active listening, critical thinking, reasoned persuasion, and justice-centered integrity.”
Gildin attributes his ability to produce first-rate advocates to the vast number of trial lawyers with whom he has had the privilege to collaborate.
“I have had the remarkable good fortune to learn from the impressive cohort of lawyers and judges who have extended their work days to preside over section meetings in the ‘Advocacy’ course; the leading trial lawyers in Pennsylvania who taught in the Law School’s summer Civil Trial Advocacy Seminar and Workshop; experienced public defenders from across the country who traveled to the Law School to serve on the faculty of the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania’s Annual Trial Skills Training; and the national and internationally renowned advocates to whom I was exposed while teaching in an array of externally sponsored continuing education trial advocacy trainings,” said Gildin.
In addition to teaching, Gildin served as dean of the Law School from 2013 to 2019.
From Chicago to Carlisle
Gildin obtained his JD (juris doctorate) from Stanford Law School, then spent three years as a civil litigator in Chicago. A classmate who seemed to be enjoying a better work-life balance as a legal writing instructor inspired Gildin to apply for a teaching position at Penn State Dickinson Law, he said. He and Terri, who was completing graduate school, had never heard of Carlisle.
“Forty-seven years and three adult children later, I have never lived further than across the street from the Law School,” said Gildin.
At Penn State Dickinson Law, he said he found that he could balance teaching, pursuing scholarship, and maintaining a practice. During his sabbaticals, he took up new experiences, including serving as an assistant public defender in Cumberland County and clerking for the Hon. Sylvia H. Rambo of the United States District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania. Gildin also received a Fulbright grant to serve as visiting chair in international humanitarian law at the University of Ottawa.
Gildin authored more than 40 books, book chapters, articles, continuing legal education publication chapters, and book reviews, including co‐authoring the second and third editions of "Trial Advocacy Basics," published by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.
Making a lasting impact on generations of students
Gildin found he loved teaching. His students praise his methods, accessibility outside of class, and ability to instill confidence.
Richard Bobbe, Penn State Dickinson Law class of 1999, enrolled in Gildin’s Criminal Procedure class as a 1L (first-year law student).
“I was taken with him right from the beginning. He is very charismatic, and he has forgotten more about trial law than a lot of us could learn in our lifetimes,” Bobbe said. “That first semester as a 1L, you do not have any experience with the Socratic method, and Dean Gildin is so good at it. He drew answers out of us instead of saying, ‘No, this is what the answer is.’”
Andy Cordo, Penn State Dickinson Law class of 2004, and Annie Cordo, Penn State Dickinson Law class of 2005, noted Gildin treated students like colleagues, increasing their confidence.
“Gary’s practical, approachable, professional style stands out. We always felt like he was talking to us like a lawyer, as if we were fellow lawyers. The feeling we had was, this is a conversation I could be having with a peer in my practice,” said the Cordos via an email. “Most significantly, he taught us practical legal skills that we use every day in our legal careers. To this day, more than 20 years later, we both regularly quote things he said. His ‘Advocacy’ class taught us how to be a good advocate as well as a good opponent.”
Faith M. Lucchesi, Penn State Dickinson Law class of 2000, praised Gildin’s belief in his students.
“He always gave you the confidence to keep going. He made you believe that it was OK to make a mistake or change your mind, which will help you learn,” said Lucchesi. “Maya Angelou says that when you know better, you do better. Professor Gildin also had that philosophy. If you made a mistake, you were not going to be made to feel foolish about it.”
A commitment to helping others
Gildin has served as the director of the Miller Center for Public Interest Law and Advocacy since its founding in 1999. The position reflects his passion for and uplifting of pro bono work. He has continued to provide such assistance throughout his tenure at the Law School, including arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court in "Bowen v. Roy" and the Third Circuit in "Raphael Christopher v. Frederick Nestlerode et al," a racial profiling case.
“I think my greatest contribution as a faculty member has been to cultivate lawyers who, because of their experience with clients while in law school, are going to carry out that commitment to provide legal services to those who cannot afford it when they go into practice,” said Gildin.