Kim Taylor Appointed Vice President and General Counsel

Current University of Chicago General Counsel will assume role on Sept. 1, succeeding Pamela Bernard

Kim Taylor
Kim Taylor will serve as the university’s chief legal officer.

Kim Taylor, a prominent attorney with strong experience in higher education legal issues, will join Duke University as vice president and general counsel, Duke President Vincent E. Price announced on Monday, July 1.

Taylor is currently vice president and general counsel at the University of Chicago. She will join Duke on Sept.1, 2024.

She succeeds Pamela Bernard who is retiring after 18 years in the position at Duke. The selection came following a national search led by a university committee chaired by Kerry Abrams, James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke Dean of the Duke School of Law. 

“Kim brings extensive legal expertise and senior leadership experience to Duke, including a decade of service in her current role as vice president and general counsel at the University of Chicago,” said President Price. “I look forward to her sound legal guidance as we continue to navigate an ever-changing legal landscape as a leading university of this century.”

As vice president and general counsel, Taylor will serve as the university’s chief legal officer. She will report to President Price and serve as a member of the President’s Cabinet, with overall responsibility for the vision, leadership and execution of the university’s legal strategy.

Taylor will also oversee a dedicated team of legal and administrative professionals responsible for various legal issues, including student and employment issues, health law, research issues, tax-exempt organizations, athletics, corporate matters and litigation coordination for the university.

“I am thrilled to join President Price’s leadership team and become a member of the Duke community, in addition to being honored and humbled to succeed Pam Bernard as general counsel,” Taylor said.

Taylor has served as vice president and general counsel at the University of Chicago since August 2014. In that role, she represented all units of the university on legal issues and served as a member of the president’s senior cabinet, providing advice to the president, leadership team and the 55-member Board of Trustees.

At Chicago, Taylor demonstrated leadership on challenges facing major global educational institutions. Her responsibilities involved navigating subjects such as corporate partnerships, privacy and data governance, corporate governance, federally funded research, conflicts of interest, government investigations, regulatory and compliance, and intellectual property issues.

She handled legal issues involving the university’s contract operations of two prominent Department of Energy laboratories, the Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab. She also advised the university’s international affiliates on legal affairs facing them across the globe.

In addition, Taylor oversaw the Department of Safety and Security, which includes the University of Chicago Police Department that has more than 100 police officers.

A leader in promoting diversity and inclusion in hiring at Chicago, Taylor received the university’s John Rogers Jr. Business Diversity Impact Award for her efforts.

Prior to coming to the University of Chicago, Taylor was an equity partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis, where she worked for 18 years.  She also served as a partner at the Hilton & Bishop law firm in Massachusetts from 2012-2014.

Taylor received her BA degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley, and her J.D., with honors, from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.