Berkeley Law was honored to welcome Judge Diane P. Wood on February 3 to present the third Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture. Judge Wood’s topic was “Walking the Walk: Herma Hill Kay, Diversity, and Inclusion.”
This event can be viewed here:
About Diane P. Wood
Diane P. Wood is a Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Judge Wood attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning her B.A. in 1971 (highest honors), and her J.D. in 1975 (Order of the Coif). She clerked for Judge Irving L. Goldberg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1975-76), and for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court (1976-77).
She began her career as a legal academic in 1980 after a brief period at the U.S. Department of State. From 1993 until she was appointed a Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit in 1995, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. She was Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit from October 1, 2013 to July 4, 2020.
Judge Wood is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and is on the Council of the American Law Institute; she chairs the Academy’s Council. Judge Wood is married to Dr. Robert L. Sufit. She has three children, three step-children and four grandchildren. She enjoys playing the oboe and English horn in several Chicago-area amateur orchestras.
About the Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture
Herma Hill Kay was a Berkeley Law institution. A beloved, iconic pioneer among women in the law, Herma taught here for 57 years and was our first woman dean. The school’s second woman faculty member, Herma became a popular professor and renowned scholar of family law, conflicts of law, and sex-based discrimination.
A powerful advocate for diversity in legal education and women’s rights, she published numerous articles and book chapters on divorce, adoption, and reproductive rights. Herma died in 2017 at age 82.
The Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture was created by a generous seed gift from Professor Pamela Samuelson and her husband Dr. Robert Glushko.
The inaugural Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture was delivered in 2019 by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken gave the second lecture in 2020.