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Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture: Litigating in the Supreme Court — A Conversation with Former U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
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Litigating in the Supreme Court: A Conversation with Former U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar
Elizabeth Prelogar served as the 48th Solicitor General of the United States from 2021 to 2025. In that role, she argued some of the most high-profile, consequential cases of our time. In this conversation with Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, she will discuss her tenure as Solicitor General and the past, present, and future of the Supreme Court.
Elizabeth Prelogar Biography
Elizabeth Prelogar is a partner and Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate practice at Cooley LLP. Before coming to Cooley, Elizabeth served as the 48th Solicitor General of the United States from 2021 to 2025. She is only the second woman in history to hold that position. As Solicitor General, she was the fourth-ranking individual at the Department of Justice and was responsible for conducting and supervising all Supreme Court litigation on behalf of the United States and overseeing the federal government’s appellate strategy in lower courts throughout the country. She has argued 35 cases in the Supreme Court, delivering more Supreme Court arguments since 2021 than any other advocate. Her matters have included some of the most high-profile, consequential cases of our time, involving pressing and complex issues of constitutional law, administrative law, taxation, statutory interpretation, criminal law, environmental regulation, technology, civil rights, and antitrust. She argued 10 times in the 2023-2024 Supreme Court term alone – more than 16% of all cases heard that year – including twice arguing back-to-back cases on the same day.
Elizabeth was born and raised in Boise, Idaho. She received her bachelor’s degree from Emory University, a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews, and her law degree from Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, she clerked for Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She then completed consecutive Supreme Court clerkships for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Elena Kagan. In addition to her recent tenure as Solicitor General, Elizabeth has held various roles in government, including Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Assistant to the Solicitor General, and Associate Special Counsel. She also served as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, where she taught a class on changing paradigms in the Supreme Court.
About the Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture
The Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture was created by a generous seed gift from Professor Pamela Samuelson and her husband, Dr. Robert Glushko. The annual lecture honors the iconic pioneer who taught at Berkeley Law for 57 years and was its first female dean. She died in 2017 at age 82.
Herma Hill Kay was a Berkeley Law institution. 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.
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