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Curriculum Vitae

B.A., University of Virginia, 1989; M.A., The Catholic University of America, 1992; J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1997; Ph.D., The Catholic University of America, 2012; Graduate Lecturer, The Catholic University of America, 1992-1993; Counsel, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, 1997-1998; Counsel, Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives, 2001-2004; Associate Attorney, Balch & Bingham LLP, 1998-2001; Partner, Balch & Bingham LLP, 2004-2005; Partner, Hunton & Williams LLP, 2005-2011; Graduate Lecturer, The Catholic University of America, 2008-2011; Counsel, Hunton & Williams LLP, 2011-13; Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College, 2013-5; Partner, Balch & Bingham LLP, 2015-17; Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy, 2017-2019; Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College, 2019-.

 Publications

• “Aquinas on the Natural Inclination of Man to Offer Sacrifice to God.” Accepted as a “Contributed Paper” for presentation at the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 2012 Annual Meeting, Marina del Rey, Calif., and for subsequent publication in the ACPA Proceedings.
• “In Defense of Law: The Common-Sense Jurisprudence of Aquinas,” Liberty University Law Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007), 73-110.
• “The Requirements of the ‘Just and Reasonable’ Standard: Legal Bases for Reform of Electric Transmission Rates,” Energy Law Journal, Vol. 21, No. 20 (2000), 389-446 (coauthor Patrick J. McCormick III).
• “Is Originalism ‘Political’?,” Texas Review of Law and Politics, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1997), 149-189.

Presentations

• “Inclinatio Naturalis and the ‘Ulpian Problem’ in Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory.” , The Catholic University of America, February 18, 2012.
• “Nature in Aquinas’s Natural Law: Natura Universalis or Natura Particularis?” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan (presented May 11, 2012).
• “Aquinas on Natural Law: Lex vs. Jus?” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan (presented May 10, 2013).

Profile

In 2019 Dr. Sean B. Cunningham left a successful career in law and government service to become a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College — again.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Dr. Cunningham holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in philosophy from The Catholic University of America as well as a juris doctor from the University of Texas School of Law. In 2013 a longstanding love for philosophy and the liberal arts, coupled with a yearning to teach, inspired him to leave his position at an 800-attorney law firm in Washington, D.C., and join the College’s ����ӰԺ teaching faculty.

Two years later, however, a family member faced a dire medical condition that required Dr. Cunningham and his wife to bring their family back to the East Coast, where he resumed his legal career. “Thankfully we got through the crisis,” he says, and with the College opening a campus closer to home in 2019, he was able to return to teaching. “Being a tutor at the College was a calling and a privilege, to which I am very happy to be able to return.”