Herma Hill Kay (August 18, 1934 – June 10, 2017) was the Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). She previously served as dean of Boalt from 1992 to 2000. She specialized in

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage, ...

and

conflict of laws Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...

Biography

Kay was born in

Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, also known as ''The Garden City'', is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population of the city was 13,964 according to the 2010 United States Census and declined to 12 ...

in 1934 to a third-grade teacher mother, Herma Lee Crawford, and an Army chaplain father, Charles Esdorn Hill. She studied English at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

and graduated magna cum laude in 1956. At SMU, she was inducted into

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. She then attended law school at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, graduating third in her class in 1959. After law school, she clerked for one year for Justice

Roger Traynor Roger John Traynor (February 12, 1900 – May 14, 1983) was the 23rd Chief Justice of California (1964-1970) and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1940 to 1964. Previously, he had served as a Deputy Attorney General o ...

of the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

. She joined the faculty at Boalt Hall in 1960 and became dean of that faculty in 1992. Kay died on June 10, 2017, at the age of 82.

Works, honors, and recognition

In 1966, Kay served on the California Governor's Commission on the Family, which proposed that California adopt a no-fault regime for divorce. The state of California adopted a law based on that recommendation, the first of its kind in the United States, in 1970. Along with Robert Levy, she was co-reporter of the committee that prepared the

Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...

. In 1969, Kay, along with

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...

and Kenneth M. Davidson, authored the first casebook on sex discrimination, ''Sex-Based Discrimination: Text, Cases, and Materials'' (West, 1969).Bob Egelko
"Ruth Bader Ginsburg Visits UC Berkeley"
''San Francisco Chronicle'', Oct. 22, 2019. In 1985, Kay was elected to the Council of the

American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...

. She was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1989. Kay was president of the

Association of American Law Schools The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 176 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non ...

in 1989 and secretary of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar from 1999 to 2001. In 2000, she became a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. She received 1992 Margaret Brent Award to Women Lawyers of Distinction and the 2003 Boalt Hall Alumni Association Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award. Kay has also been recognized for her teaching, receiving the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award, in 1962, and the Society of American Law Teachers Teaching Award. In 1999, the Boalt Hall Women's Association created a fellowship in Kay's name to support students pursuing "public interest work benefiting women." Berkeley established the Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture series; the inaugural speaker was U.S. Supreme Court Justice (and friend of Kay's)

.Ross Todd
"At Berkeley Law, Justice Ginsburg Celebrates a Friend and Legal Pioneer"
''The Recorder'', Oct. 21, 2019.

Selected works

; Articles * "Same-Sex Divorce in the Conflict of Laws," 15 Kings College L.J. 63 (2004). * "'Making Marriage and Divorce Safe for Women' Revisited," 32 Hofstra L. Rev. 71 (2003). * "U.C.'s Women Law Faculty," 36 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 331 (2003). * "Women Law School Deans: A Different Breed, Or Just One Of The Boys?" 14 Yale J. L. & Feminism 219 (2002). * "No-Fault Divorce and Child Custody: Chilling Out the Gender Wars," 36 Fam. L. Q. 27 (2002). * "The Challenge to Diversity in Legal Education," 34 Ind. L. Rev. 55 (2000). * "From the Second Sex to the Joint Venture: An Overview of Women's Rights and Family Law in the United States During the Twentieth Century," 88 Calif.L.Rev. 2017 (December 2000). * "Adoption in the Conflict of Laws: The UAA, Not the UCCJA, Is the Answer," 84 Calif.L.Rev. 703 (1996). * "Beyond No-Fault: New Directions in Divorce Reform," in (S. Sugarman & H.H. Kay, eds.) Divorce Reform at the Crossroads 6–36 (Yale Univ. Press, 1990). * "An Appraisal of California's No-Fault Divorce Law," 75 Calif.L.Rev. 291 (1987). * "Equality and Difference: The Case of Pregnancy," 1 Berkeley Women's L.J. 1 (1985). * "Marvin v. Marvin: Preserving the Options," 65 Calif.L.Rev. 937 (1977) (with Carol Amyx). * "Making Marriage and Divorce Safe for Women" — review of M. Rheinstein, Marriage Stability, Divorce and the Law in 60 Calif.L.Rev. 1683 (1972). ; Casebooks * Kenneth M. Davidson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Herma Hill Kay, ''Sex-Based Discrimination: Text, Cases, and Materials'' (West, 1969)

References

External links

Herma Hill Kay's faculty page at UC Berkeley School of Law
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, Herma 1934 births 2017 deaths American legal scholars Conflict of laws scholars American women legal scholars Women deans (academic) Deans of UC Berkeley School of Law UC Berkeley School of Law faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society Southern Methodist University alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni People from Orangeburg, South Carolina