Message from Dean Gerken about Toni Hahn Davis

After 26 years at the Law School (including 23 at the helm of our Alumni and Public Affairs Offices), the incomparable Toni Hahn Davis ’92 LLM is retiring from her position as Associate Dean at the end of December.

Toni has been tirelessly devoted to this school. If you have worked with Toni, you have experienced this. In my first year as dean, I crisscrossed the country to meet our alumni and witnessed firsthand the outreach that Toni has deftly managed year after year. She has traveled across the country and abroad to engage with our loyal alumni, brought them back to New Haven for 23 Alumni Weekends, and worked with numerous committees and volunteers to extend the Law School’s legacy. During my travels I heard about regional alumni panels on an enormous range of topics, theater events, tours of courts and prisons, and receptions that ranged from Los Angeles to Geneva. Toni thoughtfully oversaw the Public Affairs Office, connecting with many class secretaries and gathering alumni news from her many friends in the community. And who could forget the Alumni Weekend event featuring Dan Kornstein ’73 and David Kendall’s ’71 Hamlet v. Denmark as they argued an appeal before five real-life YLS judges, all of them decked out in white wigs?

Toni’s passion for her work cannot be overstated. She has been the glue that has connected all of you to the School and to each other. I am glad that when she approached us a year ago, we were able to work with her on her wish to retire, but I am not sure what we will do without her. Her energy, wisdom, thoughtfulness, and loyalty will be impossible to replicate, and there are 13,000 of you who will miss her as much as we will. I know you will join me in wishing Toni all the best in what I’m sure will be a happy retirement.

Sincerely,
Heather K. Gerken
Dean and Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law