Tom Keating received his baccalaureate degree from Northwestern University where he was selected for membership in Alpha Sigma Lambda, an academic society, and his law degree from the DePaul University School of Law (American Jurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law).  Prior to his admission to the bar Tom, served in management positions for nine years for a major Midwestern railroad in the areas: of accounting, purchasing, marketing, traffic and economic forecasting. In 1978 he was admitted to practice before the Interstate Commerce Commission. Tom served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Joseph Schneider, the Presiding Judge of the County Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County (1981-83).

He is admitted to the Illinois bar and the bars of the U.S. Court of International Trade; the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Federal and Seventh Circuits (all 1983) and belongs to the American, Illinois and Customs and International Trade associations. His legal practice is concentrated in the areas of customs, international trade and other laws affecting the importation or exportation of merchandise.  He served as the chairs of the Customs and U.S. International Trade Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association (1988-1990) and the Illinois State Bar Association International and Immigration Law Section Council (1992-93), and served as the Chair of the Joint Illinois State Bar Association - Advocates Society Twinning Project with the National Bar Association of Poland (1989-92). He has also served on the Judicial Evaluation Committee for the ISBA since 2000. He is a past President of the International Trade Club of Chicago (ITCC) (1994-95), the oldest continuously operating international trade organization in the U.S.  He has also served as chair of the ITCC’s Import Committee, Corporate Secretary, Treasurer (1995-2016) and as a member of the Board of Directors of Club since 1988.

Tom is listed in the several editions of Strathmore’s Who’s Who and has been listed in Who's Who in American Law, as well as in Who's Who of Emerging Leaders in America. He has been continuously listed as “AV Preeminent” in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and has been rated at least “AV” continuously since 1989. He has been an Illinois “Super Lawyer” in Chicago Magazine. Tom has lectured and written on various aspects of customs and international trade law including, for example:grey market, classification of merchandise for duty assessment purposes, customs valuation, country of origin determination and marking requirements, foreign assembly operations eligible for reduced duty treatment, foreign customs laws, U.S. China Trade Relations and Trade Remedies, as well as the U.S. - Canada and the North American Free Trade Agreements. Tom's practice has been devoted primarily to customs and international trade law and related trade issues since his admission to the bar in 1983.

Education

• JD, DePaul University School of Law

• BA, Northwestern University

Admissions

• Illinois

Court Admissions

• U.S. Court of International Trade

• Northern District of Illinois

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal and Seventh Circuits