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News Release

Vermont Law School Mourns Professor Cheryl Hanna

Monday, July 28, 2014

SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt.

​SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt., July 28, 2014—It is with the most profound sorrow that we announce the untimely death of our dear colleague Professor Cheryl Hanna.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Professor Hanna was an expert in constitutional law, the United States Supreme Court, and women and the law. Her scholarship has been published in leading journals, including the Harvard Law ReviewYale Law Journal, and Michigan Journal of Gender and the Law. Professor Hanna was also a frequent media commentator, including on Vermont Public Radio and WCAX-TV 3.

She consulted on constitutional cases and represented public interest organizations through the filing of amicus briefs in cases before state and federal courts. This included the amicus brief she and Vermont Law School students wrote on behalf of the Vermont Commission on Women in Dreves v. Hudson, the first case implicating Vermont’s Equal Pay Act. The book she co-authored, Domestic Violence and the Law: Theory and Practice, was the leading casebook on violence against women.

She is survived by her husband and two children.

Professor Hanna was a beloved teacher and role model to many within and beyond the Vermont Law School community. It is with heartache that we share this loss. She will be deeply missed by our faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

A memorial service for Professor Hanna will be held at a later date. Details will be announced as plans are finalized.