THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Herma Hill Kay
August 18, 1934 – June 10, 2017
“How to make trouble without being a troublemaker, that describes my style.”
Prolific scholar, advocate, and teacher in the areas of family law, conflict of laws, and sex-based discrimination. The second woman to join the Berkeley Law faculty and taught for 57 years. The school’s first female dean in 1992. Along with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Kenneth M. Davidson, authored the first casebook on sex discrimination, Sex-Based Discrimination: Text, Cases, and Materials, 1969. Elected to the Council of the American Law Institute, 1985. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1989. President of the Association of American Law Schools, 1989. Secretary of the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, 1999 – 2001.
Photo. Herma with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
More About Herma:
- Obituary, New York Times
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Tribute at Herma Hill Kay’s memorial service at UC Berkeley School of Law, 2017.
- “Iconic Professor and Former Berkeley Law Dean Herma Hill Kay,” UC Berkeley School of Law
- “The First Pitch,” as told by professor Herma Hill Kay
- Photo Gallery of Herma Hill Kay
- Wikipedia page