Thomas Folsom, J.D.

Bio

Thomas Folsom earned a B.S. with a concentration in Far Eastern Area Studies from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and has done post-graduate work towards the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts at St. John’s College. Folsom served in the Air Force and with the National Security Agency, where he worked in cryptology and cryptanalysis, data collection and analysis, and program and personnel management. As a Captain in the U.S. Air Force Security Service, he served in the Republic of China and at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Folsom was law clerk to Judge Kunzig at the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. (one of the predecessor courts to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) and to Judge Finesilver in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

He’s been a partner with Davis, Graham & Stubbs, in Denver, Colorado; and with Chrisman, Bynum & Johnson, in Boulder, Colorado (this last firm subsequently joined the firm that became Faegre Baker Daniels with lawyers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia). He practiced in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, oil & gas, and intellectual property. He is a registered patent attorney.

Folsom has taught law at the University of Colorado (adjunct), University of Denver (visiting professor), Gonzaga (visiting professor), University of North Dakota (Assistant and Associate Professor), and Regent University (Professor and Senior Lecturer). He has taught Contracts, Torts, Agency & Business Associations, Securities Regulation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Cyber Security, Intellectual Property, Negotiable Instruments and Payment Systems, Jurisprudence, Legal History, and Sharia law, among others. At Regent, Folsom’s recognitions include: President of the University Faculty Senate (five years); Law School Teacher of the Year (upper level), 2005; Law School Teacher of the Year (first year), 2019; and University Award for Excellence in Scholarship (2010).

Professor Folsom writes and lectures on neo-tech issues in intellectual property and cyber security, and on legal theory including essays on a “Restatement of the Obvious” for the new era. His work has been recognized by the International Trademark Association, which in 2009 awarded him the prestigious Ladas Memorial Award for excellence in writing for his “Space Pirates” article. He frequently presents at law schools and conferences in the United States, and he has presented at conferences in France, and taught in Romania.