Kimberly Jenkins Robinson is a nonresident senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings, the founding director of the Education Rights Institute, the Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, and the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia School of Law. She also serves as a professor at both the School of Education and Human Development, and the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She is one of the nation’s leading education law and policy experts about equal educational opportunity, education and democracy, civil rights, and education federalism. Robinson won the 2023-24 All-University Teaching Award at UVA.
In 2023, Robinson launched the Education Rights Institute with funding from an anonymous donor. The Education Rights Institute advances equal educational opportunity by bringing together research, law, policy, and practice across disciplines and engaging policymakers, K-12 educators, and families to ensure every student in the U.S. can attend a high-quality public school. Now in its third year, the Education Rights Institute equips educators to recognize and close opportunity gaps by delivering a high-quality education and advances educator capacity to interpret and implement protections against discrimination based on race, color, and national origin.
Robinson also is a prolific scholar who has published two edited books and a diverse array of articles, book chapters, and editorials. She is currently writing a book on education federalism for Harvard University Press. Robinson is a member of the American Law Institute and a senior research fellow of the Learning Policy Institute. Before Robinson began her career as a professor, she practiced law in the General Counsel’s Office of the U.S. Department of Education and as an education litigation attorney with Hogan & Hartson law firm in Washington, D.C. (now Hogan Lovells). She also served as a clerk for Judge James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. Robinson graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and with a B.A. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.
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Current Positions
- Nonresident Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution
- Founding Director, Education Rights Institute, University of Virginia School of Law
- Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
- White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs, University of Virginia School of Law
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Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School
- B.A. in foreign affairs, University of Virginia