Judith T. Younger

Professor Judith T. Younger is recognized for her professional work in the areas of family and property law. She came to Minnesota in 1984 as a Visiting Professor. She became Professor of Law in 1985 and the Joseph E. Wargo Anoka County Bar Association Professor of Family Law in 1991. In 2010, she was named the Stanley V. Kinyon Chaired Teacher of the Year.

Younger is a product of the New York City public schools, including the internationally renowned High School of Science. There, she met her late husband, Irving Younger. After separate college careers, and their marriage, the two became classmates again when they entered New York University Law School together. At law school, they shared one set of books because they couldn't afford two, served together on the law review, and competed fiercely with each other.

After graduation from law school, Younger clerked for a federal judge (Hon. Edward Weinfeld of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York), was an associate in the litigation department of a Wall Street law firm (now Chadbourne & Parke), was a partner in her own law firm, and was an Assistant Attorney General of the State of New York. She began her law-teaching career on a part-time basis at her alma mater, New York University Law School. She became a full-time academic after she had two daughters, joining the founding faculty of Hofstra Law School. She has now taught at a total of six law schools (New York University, Hofstra, Syracuse, Cornell, American University, and Minnesota) and served in various administrative capacities including that of law school dean. She is especially proud of some of the accomplishments her students have made under her supervision. For example: in New York, Younger and her students drafted legislation that was enacted to equalize the relations between spouses in the state; here in Minnesota, Younger and her students created a course in The Law of Reproductive Rights. Younger has taught The Law of Reproductive Rights annually since 2008. Minnesota has thus become one of the very few law schools to offer such a course on an ongoing basis. She also teaches first-year Property, Wills and Trusts, Remedies, and Family Law.

Younger has served on the Minnesota Board of Professional Responsibility and been of counsel to a Minnesota law firm. She is a member of the bar in New York, the District of Columbia, and Minnesota. She is also a member of the United States Supreme Court bar and the bars of several other federal courts. She is a life member of the American Law Institute. She acts as adviser to the student-run Theatre of the Relatively Talentless (TORT), and is a regular performer in its productions.