Professor Kimberly J. Robinson

Kimberly Jenkins Robinson is the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. She is a national expert who speaks domestically and internationally about educational equity, equal educational opportunity, civil rights and the federal role in education. Her scholarship has been published widely in leading journals and proposes innovative legal and policy solutions for ensuring that all children receive equal access to an excellent education. 

Before joining UVA Law, Professor Robinson was a visiting professor at the George Washington University Law School in spring 2017, where she taught Race, Racism and the Law. She is a senior fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, a leading think tank on education policy, where she is working with Linda Darling-Hammond on issues related to educational access and equality. 

During her time at the University of Richmond, Professor Robinson served as chair of the law school’s Diversity Committee and co-chair of a university-wide faculty learning community on reducing implicit bias in teaching. She previously served as co-chair of the Faculty Senate’s Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Committee, where she led the drafting of recommendations for strengthening the University of Richmond’s sexual assault policy, including many recommendations that were incorporated into a revised sexual assault policy. Professor Robinson also served as chair of a university-wide faculty learning community on reducing stereotype threat in teaching. 

Prior to joining the Richmond Law faculty in 2010, Professor Robinson was an associate professor at Emory University School of Law and a visiting fellow at George Washington University Law School. She also served in the General Counsel’s Office of the U.S. Department of Education, where she helped draft federal policy on issues of race, sex and disability discrimination. In addition, Professor Robinson represented school districts in school finance and constitutional law litigation as an associate with Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells).