Rhodia D. Thomas
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Adjunct Professor of Law Executive Director |
About Thomas
Ms. Thomas serves as Executive Director of MidPenn Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm that provides civil legal services for low-income residents and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in 18 counties in Central-Pennsylvania. She graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University with a B.S. in Education, and received her J.D. from Widener Commonwealth Law School. She is the current Chair of the PA Project Directors Association, Past Chair of the African American Project Directors Association, Past Chair of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association Board of Directors, a member of the ABA House of Delegates, a member of the PBA House of Delegates, a PA Bar Foundation Board member where she Chairs the Scholarship Committee and serves on the Loan Repayment Assistance Committee, and a member of the PBA Minority Bar Committee. For three years, she co-chaired PBA’s Diversity Summit and she currently serves as a co-chair of the PBA Minority Attorney Conference Planning Subcommittee. Ms. Thomas has received several awards, including the PLAN Excellence Award, Women of Excellence Award, the African American Project Director Outstanding Leadership Award, The Frank Grady Outstanding Professional Award, the Widener Commonwealth Law School Alumni Association Outstanding Service Award and the Central Pennsylvania Journal’s Woman of Excellence Award. In addition, she has served as an adjunct professor at the Penn State Dickinson Law and the Widener Commonwealth Law School. In 2020, she received an Outstanding Leader in Diversity and Inclusion award from PBA for her work along with others in planning and executing the 30th Anniversary Minority Bar Conference. Ms. Thomas has trained at national conferences on issues of Diversity, Inclusion and Implicit Bias, Board Development and Succession Planning.