Eimermann began his academic career at Illinois State in 1970 after having received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois. Over the next 32 years, Eimermann taught a wide variety of law related courses, and, except for the six years in which he chaired the Department, Eimermann served as the University’s official pre-law advisor as well as the faculty advisor for the Law Club. In this capacity he counseled several thousand ISU students regarding preparation for legal careers and admission to law school. “Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with many outstanding pre-law students,” said Eimermann. “David was one of the first who really separated himself from the pack and who you just knew was going to be a highly successful attorney.”
After graduating from ISU, Crumbaugh earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was managing editor of the University of Illinois Law Review and in the Order of the Coif. After rising to become head of the commercial finance department at Winston and Strawn, he moved his practice to Latham and Watkins in 1997, where he devotes his practice principally to the representation of banks and commercial finance companies in transactional matters. Crumbaugh has been active over the last decade in the Commercial Finance Association. In 1995, he was elected as member of the Governing Board of the Commercial Finance Association Education Foundation and in 2001 he was elected chairman of the foundation. He is ranked in the top tier of banking and finance lawyers in Chicago by Chambers “World’s Leading Lawyers.” He has also spoken widely at continuing legal education seminars regarding commercial finance topics.
“Mr. Crumbaugh’s generous donation will serve to make our pre-law center one of the best in the State of Illinois, if not in the entire country,” said Dean Olson. “The center is now in its new location in Schroeder Hall, and in the coming months, we will use the donated funds to purchase state-of-the art equipment and software to insure our pre-law students have access to the most recent materials and are able to prepare themselves to go on to the best law schools.”
The Thomas Eimermann Pre-Law Center is now located in room 423 in the newly renovated Schroeder Hall. It was created in the fall of 2003 by Dr. Robert Bradley (Associate Professor of Politics and Government) to provide ISU students interested in attending law school with a central location to access information relating to legal education. Services offered by the center include: dissemination of information on law schools via the Center’s collection of software and books and through the Center’s official website; LSAT preparation; advisement; application assistance; and assistance in obtaining information on financial aid.