UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic Director Tom Sharbaugh, a professor of practice at Penn State Dickinson Law and an active member of Penn State’s entrepreneurial community, will retire on June 30.
Sharbaugh joined the law school in 2015 as a full-time professor after initially teaching as an adjunct. He taught two courses that he started: “Law Firms as a Business,” which drew upon Sharbaugh’s many years managing a large law firm, and “Representing the Entrepreneur,” which covered the many legal topics confronting startups and other small businesses.
“We owe Professor Sharbaugh our deep gratitude for his leadership and expansion of the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic (EAC), which he created, with an initial focus on offering pro bono legal services to the Penn State community, and then extended to serve all startup and early-stage businesses across Pennsylvania as part of Penn State’s land-grant mission. He poured countless hours into forming partnerships and mentoring students in the EAC, who gain real-world experience working on client cases under attorney supervision,” said fellow clinic director Michele Vollmer, clinical professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs.
“Professor Sharbaugh brought more than 35 years of practice experience to Penn State, including service as the firm-wide managing partner of operations at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP for 15 years and work as a partner in that firm’s Business & Finance Practice Group representing clients in transactional and corporate matters, including private equity funds in mergers, acquisitions and investment transactions. He has leveraged his relationships with law firms and business organizations across the commonwealth to build the EAC and to assist hundreds of students with career advice, mentoring and landing post-graduation careers.”
A faculty resolution passed in May recognized his exceptional service to Penn State Dickinson Law. "Tom has shown special generosity in mentoring colleagues and students alike, always making time to help others succeed, providing wise counsel, thoughtful supervision, and unwavering support to those who have worked with him," noted the resolution. "Tom’s career reflects distinguished service to Penn State, to legal education, to entrepreneurship, and to the small-business community of Pennsylvania."
At the urging of Professor of Law Marie T. Reilly, then the associate dean of academic affairs at the law school, Sharbaugh started the EAC, whose mission was twofold: first, to educate law students who would work in the law clinic under Sharbaugh’s supervision as a practicing lawyer, and second, to provide legal assistance to Penn State students, faculty and staff, and community members in Centre County who wanted to start businesses.
“Starting the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic in 2015 was one of the few things in life that I timed perfectly,” Sharbaugh said. “At the same time as we started the EAC, then-President Eric J. Barron was rolling out the Invent Penn State entrepreneurship program with James Delattre, associate vice president for research, at the helm. The Happy Valley LaunchBox in downtown State College was the flagship new-business incubator of Invent Penn State, and it was a natural fit for the EAC.”
Before long, Sharbaugh moved his office from the Katz Building to the Happy Valley LaunchBox to facilitate meeting with the EAC’s clients. Sharbaugh had become familiar with the then-new Zoom technology from his experience in private legal practice, so he proposed to Delattre that the EAC offer to represent startup clients at all Penn State campuses, which coincided with Barron’s plan to open a LaunchBox at every campus. Delattre agreed with the plan, and Sharbaugh quickly expanded the EAC’s student enrollment from five to 12.
Expanding beyond Penn State
Sharbaugh soon saw an opportunity to expand the EAC even further and proposed to Delattre that the EAC represent any startup or other small business in any part of Pennsylvania, regardless of whether they had any connection to Penn State. Barron concurred with the idea of helping companies throughout the commonwealth as part of Penn State’s land-grant mission.
“When a professor at Pitt heard me give a presentation during which I emphasized the EAC’s willingness to represent anyone in Pennsylvania, she asked in front of the crowd, ‘What does Penn State get from this?’ I responded, ‘Absolutely nothing other than the satisfaction of helping small businesses in Pennsylvania,’” Sharbaugh said.
Sharbaugh traveled throughout Pennsylvania to pitch to economic development organizations the idea of providing pro bono services to businesses lacking access to legal advice. This source of referrals eventually grew to 120 different organizations. The EAC developed a particularly close relationship with Pennsylvania’s network of the then-18 (now 15) Small Business Development Centers, located at universities across Pennsylvania, including Penn State.
“Our client base took off like a rocket,” Sharbaugh said. “I often tell my former law firm partners that the easiest way to build a legal practice is to work for free.”
The number of law students enrolled in the EAC reached 24 each semester, with at least 10 during the summer. The EAC also found external funding to hire two junior lawyers who supervise students. At its peak, the EAC provided pro bono legal services to more than 1,800 new clients annually. These clients, from nearly all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, have created hundreds of Pennsylvania-based businesses with the EAC’s guidance.
From 2021 to 2024, the EAC expanded at an annual rate of more than 20%, with client referrals coming from over 120 organizations based in 65 out of the commonwealth's 67 counties. In 2024 alone, the EAC assisted 1,813 new clients and helped form 576 for-profit businesses and 21 nonprofit organizations.
“Although I was fortunate to have been successful for decades in so-called ‘Big Law,’ my years building the EAC were the highlight of my legal career," Sharbaugh said. "I was able to work closely with many dedicated students while providing services to startups and small companies that would not have any legal help but for the EAC. I felt in many ways like I was working with Penn State Extension. I am very thankful for this opportunity that Penn State Dickinson Law and Invent Penn State gave to me at the end of my career.”
After June 30, Sharbaugh intends to continue helping the EAC and Invent Penn State on a volunteer basis.
As a law professor who spent decades practicing law, Sharbaugh also spent many hours counseling students about jobs in the legal profession.
“I will miss working closely with students on their job strategies — both before and after graduation — and then being elated vicariously when they landed good jobs,” Sharbaugh said.
Before joining Penn State full time, he was a partner of Morgan Lewis, a global multi-office law firm, based in its Philadelphia office. He joined in 1988 after serving as a partner at another Philadelphia law firm. Sharbaugh spent his last 15 years at Morgan Lewis as the firm-wide managing partner of operations, with day-to-day responsibility for the operations of the international law firm with more than 3,100 personnel, including approximately 1,350 lawyers at that time. During Sharbaugh’s time in management, the firm’s annual revenue grew from $430 million to $1.2 billion, and its service platform expanded from 11 offices concentrated in the U.S. northeast corridor to 25 offices in 10 countries.
A history of giving back
In addition to teaching at the law school and managing the EAC, Sharbaugh also has been active in fundraising efforts at Penn State. He was a member of the President’s Capital Campaign Executive Committee for two University-wide capital campaigns: A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence (2016–2022) and For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students (2007–2014). He and his wife, Kristin Hayes, endowed scholarships at the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Schreyer Honors College, and the Smeal College of Business; made significant contributions to the Palmer Art Museum, Penn State Extension, and Invent Penn State; and initiated, through crowdfunding campaigns, an emergency student loan program and a first-generation students grant program.
Sharbaugh is a native of Ebensburg in Cambria County. He graduated from the Penn State Smeal College of Business with a bachelor of science degree in economics, earning highest distinction. He continued his education at the University of Michigan Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude with a juris doctor degree. While at Penn State, Sharbaugh was engaged in numerous student activities and received the Dean’s Cup for leadership from the Smeal College of Business and a full-tuition scholarship from the Interfraternity Council based on academic achievement and student leadership.