Heather K. Gerken

Heather Gerken
Gerken in 2014
17th Dean of Yale Law School
Assumed office
2017
Preceded byRobert C. Post
Personal details
Born
Heather Kristin Gerken

(1969-02-19) February 19, 1969 (age 55)
Bolton, Massachusetts, U.S.
SpouseDavid Simon
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
University of Michigan (JD)

Heather Kristin Gerken (born February 19, 1969) is an American legal scholar who serves as the Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law at Yale Law School,[1] where she teaches election law and runs the San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project.[2] Since 2017, she has also served as the Dean of Yale Law School, the law school's first female dean.[3]

Early life and education[edit]

Gerken grew up in Bolton, Massachusetts.[4] She was educated at Nashoba Regional High School, graduating in 1987,[5] and received a Presidential Scholarship.[6]

In 1991, Gerken graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in history after completing a 123-page long senior thesis titled "Stepping Out of the Bounds of Womanhood: An Analysis of the Popular Image of Women and Women's Experiences during World War II".[7] She was the recipient of the university's Dodds Prize, given to top seniors, and the Kenneth C. Harris Award for research.[8]

After college, Gerken enrolled in the University of Michigan Law School on a full-tuition scholarship. She graduated in 1994 with a Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, and membership in the Order of the Coif. She was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review and was named the commencement speaker of her class.[8]

Gerken was a law clerk for Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1994–1995, and then for Justice David Souter at the U.S. Supreme Court from 1995–1996.[9][8]

Career[edit]

She was an associate at Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C., from December 1996 to July 2000. From July 2000 to June 2006, she was a professor at Harvard Law School, where she was also a fellow at the Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Profession from September 2003 to July 2004. In 2006 Gerken joined Yale Law School and in 2008 she became the inaugural J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law.[10][11]

In 2009, in her book The Democracy Index (Princeton University Press), she proposed an index that would rate and compare the performance of elections systems at the state and local levels, to evaluate and improve the U.S. elections system.[12] She became dean of Yale Law School in 2017, and in the same year she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[13][14] In 2021, she was named to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, created by President Joe Biden in order to "provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform" in the context of evaluating the history and future of the court and its practices.[15]

In January 2022, Yale University President Peter Salovey announced that Gerken had been reappointed as Dean of Yale Law School for a second five-year term.[16]

Personal life[edit]

Gerken is married to David Simon.[17][18]

Bibliography[edit]

  • The Democracy Index: Why Our Election System is Failing and How to Fix It (Princeton University Press 2009) ISBN 9780691154374
  • "Slipping the Bonds of Federalism", 128 Harvard Law Review 85 (2014)
  • "The Political Safeguards of Horizontal Federalism", 113 Michigan Law Review 57 (2014) (with Ari Holtzblatt)
  • "The Real Problem with Citizens United: Campaign Finance, Dark Money, and Shadow Parties", 97 Marquette Law Review 904 (2014)
  • "Uncooperative Federalism", 118 Yale Law Journal 1256 (2009) (with Jessica Bulman-Pozen)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Heather Gerken biography, Yale Law School. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  2. ^ San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project, Yale Law School. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  3. ^ Liang, Ellis (2017-03-15). "Heather Gerken '91, a Leader in Constitutional Law, Prepares for New Role". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  4. ^ Neyfakh, Leon (October 7, 2012). "How to fix America from below: A bold new vision for improving democracy has propelled a charismatic young professor into the legal firmament. She calls it 'federalism all the way down.'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  5. ^ "Uncommon Conversation: Heather Gerken". Wicked Local. WCVB-TV. December 2009. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  6. ^ "Presidential Scholars Named". The New York Times. May 24, 1987. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  7. ^ Gerken, Heather Kristin. Princeton University. Department of History (ed.). "Stepping Out of the Bounds of Womanhood: An Analysis of the Popular Image of Women and Women's Experiences during World War II".
  8. ^ a b c Gerken, Heather (2023). "CV" (PDF). Yale Law School. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  9. ^ Gerken, Heather (March 31, 2016). "Lecture: The Loyal Opposition: Is it time for the nationalists to put up or shut up?" Program in Law and Public Affairs, Princeton University. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  10. ^ "Heather Gerken - Yale Law School". law.yale.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  11. ^ O'Leary, Mary E. (June 28, 2012). "Supreme Court ruling on health care lauded by Connecticut advocates; others vow to keep fighting it". New Haven Register. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  12. ^ "Public policy engagement – Democracy index".
  13. ^ "New Yale Law dean stresses standing up for rule of law". New Haven Register. February 23, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  14. ^ "Five professors elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences". Yale News. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  15. ^ "President Biden to Sign Executive Order Creating the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States". The White House. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  16. ^ "Announcement - Reappointment of Dean Heather Gerken". Yale University. 18 January 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  17. ^ Bhayani, Paras D. (April 18, 2006). "Con Law Prof Off to New Haven". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  18. ^ "Faculty Bio-David Simon". Yale University Department of Political Science. Retrieved October 2, 2018.

External links[edit]

Academic offices
Preceded by Dean of Yale Law School
2017–present 		Incumbent
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