Thomas Cole

Retired Partner and Chair Emeritus of the Executive Committee of Sidley Austin LLP; Author

Thomas A. Cole is a Retired Partner and Chair Emeritus of the Executive Committee of Sidley Austin LLP. He joined the firm upon graduation from The University of Chicago Law School in 1975 and became a partner in 1981. He was a member of the firm’s senior management from 1988 through 2013. He retired from the full-time practice of law at the end of 2016 and fully retired from practice at the end of 2022.

Among various professional recognitions, in 2001 he was included by Chambers Global as one of the 26 U.S. lawyers in its list of the “Global 100 Lawyers”—“lawyers who stand out from their colleagues and are recognized internationally.”

Mr. Cole focused his practice on public company merger and acquisitions and corporate governance. He advised on approximately 60 announced public company mergers, spin-offs and takeover defenses, the majority of which were valued at over $1 billion. Corporate governance assignments included advising public company boards and their standing and special committees on a variety of subjects, including internal investigations, CEO succession, shareholder activism and proxy contests.

He taught the seminar on corporate governance at The University of Chicago Law School and taught a seminar on organizational leadership in the University’s College. His book, CEO Leadership: Navigating the New Era in Corporate Governance was published by The University of Chicago Press in November 2019. His book (with co-author Paul Verbinnen) Collaborative Crisis Management: Prepare, Execute, Recover, Repeat was published by the Press in 2022. His new book Doing Meritocracy Right: How Business Leaders Can Turn an American Aspiration into Reality (and Why They Should) will be published by the Press in November 2025.

Mr. Cole has been active in many civic, charitable, and professional organizations. He is a Trustees Emeritus of The University of Chicago, having served on that Board from 2001 to 2024. He served as Chairman of the Boards of Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and Hospital. He is a former co-chair of the Tulane Corporate Law Institute and former chair of Northwestern’s Garrett Corporate and Securities Law Institute. In recognition of his initiatives in promoting diversity in the legal profession, he received the inaugural Thurgood Marshall Legacy Award in 2015.