Tom Albrecht graduated from the University of Dayton in 1976 with a double major in Economics and Psychology. He received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979 and joined the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP where he practiced finance law for the next 40 years. In addition to his general finance practice, Tom was a pioneer in the development of a new financial technology which later became known as securitization and structured finance. Several of his securitization transactions were recognized as employing "first of a kind" financial and legal structures.
Beginning in the mid-'80's, Tom's clients asked him to develop this US finance technology internationally, first in London, and later in Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong. His client work in, and familiarity with Asia, prompted Sidley to ask him to develop the firm's presence in the Asia Pacific region. As a member of Sidley’s Management Committee, he assumed responsibility to manage Sidley’s Asia Pacific offices in 2000 and moved to Hong Kong in 2010 where he lived until 2018. Under his leadership, the firm established six offices in the region, with more than 200 lawyers and staff by the time he retired from the firm in 2019. Currently, Tom is a member of UD’s Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee and serves as the Chair of its Academic Affairs Committee.