Welcome

The Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial Education at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University supports the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in its ongoing efforts to enhance the administration of justice through high quality continuing education for judges of the Commonwealth. In partnership with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts' (AOPC) Judicial Education Department, the Kline Center provides administrative assistance and organizational support in the development and delivery of continuing judicial education courses throughout Pennsylvania.

All trial and appellate court judges in the Commonwealth are required to take  12 hours of continuing education annually, pursuant to a December 2016 order of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The AOPC's Judicial Education Department is working with law schools across Pennsylvania to develop multidisciplinary courses for judges, capitalizing on the wealth of legal scholars as well as experts in social and physical science, technology, and ethics, to develop and staff judicial education courses that meet the rapidly changing needs of the more than 600 trial and appellate court judges.

Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University alumnus Thomas R. Kline gave $7.5 million in 2017 to establish the innovative center at his alma mater. Most recently, Kline committed $50 million to provide transformational support to Duquesne's 111-year-old law school. His gift constitutes the single largest commitment to Duquesne in its 144-year history. Kline is a 1978 Duquesne Law graduate, founding partner of the firm Kline & Specter, PC, in Philadelphia, and one of Pennsylvania's most successful trial attorneys.