Thomas W. Mitchell is a professor at Boston College Law School where he serves as the founding director of the Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights. He is a national expert on property issues facing disadvantaged communities and has been published widely. Professor Mitchell has engaged in extensive policy work, including serving as the principal drafter of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA), a model state statute designed to help disadvantaged families maintain their property and generational wealth. Thus far, twenty-seven states and other jurisdictions have enacted the UPHPA into law.
In 2020, Professor Mitchell was named a MacArthur Fellow, commonly referred to as the MacArthur Genius Grant, in recognition of the substantial impact his overall professional work has had in assisting disadvantaged, urban and rural property owners. In 2021, he was awarded the Howard University Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement. Professor Mitchell is a graduate of Amherst College, the Howard University School of Law, and the University of Wisconsin Law School where he also served as a William H. Hastie Fellow.