In Memoriam: Cheryl Hanna

The legal profession and the legal academy lost an eloquent and tireless human rights advocate last week.  Professor Leigh Goodmark offers this tribute:

Professor Cheryl Hanna of Vermont Law School passed away on Sunday, July 27, 2014.  Professor Hanna was a leading scholar on gender violence issues and the co-author of Domestic Violence and the Law: Theory and Practice.  Professor Hanna was a passionate advocate for women’s issues, writing and working on behalf of legislation to protect the health and safety of women and to guarantee equal pay.  Professor Hanna’s scholarship considered gender violence from a human rights perspective, arguing in the aftermath of Opuz v. Turkey that the right to health could be used to justify positive state intervention on behalf of people subjected to abuse where a serious risk to future health existed (Cheryl Hanna, HEALTH, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS: BROADLY REDEFINING AFFIRMATIVE STATE DUTIES AFTER OPUZ V. TURKEY, 34 Hastings Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 127 (2011)).  Professor Hanna’s legacy can be found not just in her own writing and advocacy, but in the work of the students she taught.  She said, “I have dozens of former students — in all sectors of the legal profession — who are doing interesting, innovative work to raise awareness of important issues and bring about the changes this world needs.”  Professor Hanna was 48 years old.

———-

Vermont Law School is hosting a Remembrance Journal for Professor Hanna here.  A statement from the law school’s vice president observes that “the students, faculty, staff and alumni of Vermont Law School lost a dear friend, mentor and colleague. The people of the State of Vermont lost a public citizen and an immensely talented lawyer. And the nation lost an activist for the rights of women—and a force for change.”  The Human Rights at Home community joins in mourning this loss and remembering Professor Hanna’s many professional and personal contributions to the realization of human rights.