In Memoriam: Sally Burns
Professor Sarah “Sally” Burns, who founded and taught NYU Law’s Reproductive Justice Clinic, passed away on September 11, Dean Troy McKenzie ’00 has announced. “[Burns] made enormous contributions to our Law School and to the practice of law,” McKenzie said in his email announcement.
After earning her undergraduate degree in philosophy at the University of Oklahoma, Burns obtained master’s degrees in human relations and sociology from Oklahoma and Stanford University, respectively, before she graduated from Yale Law School in 1979. She began her legal career at Covington & Burling before transitioning to what would become her life’s work—public interest lawyering.
Burns was a member of the inaugural class of Georgetown Women’s Law and Public Policy fellows. She later served as legal director of the National Organization for Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she adroitly used first-person-narrative amicus briefs, sometimes called “women’s voices briefs,” in Supreme Court cases concerning reproductive rights. Burns was also a trailblazing lawyer who persuaded courts to recognize sex discrimination and sexual harassment as harms that the law could remedy.
Burns joined NYU Law 35 years ago and, through her work as a clinical professor, shaped generations of students. She co-directed the Civil Rights Clinic, founded the Mediation Clinic, and taught in several others before creating and leading the Reproductive Justice Clinic for the past twelve years. Her vision for that clinic anticipated a national movement that has since taken shape.
“She brought unmatched skill in grassroots lawyering, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and client representation to her teaching, and she shared those skills generously,” the dean said. “As one close colleague described her, Sally was a giant who stepped softly. She was loved and will be missed by many: colleagues across the Law School and beyond; former students; the staff and Board of Pregnancy Justice, formerly National Advocates for Pregnant Women, where she served as chair; and countless others.”
