Kristin Hickman

Kristin Hickman serves as Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life, McKnight Presidential Professor in Law, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, and Harlan Albert Rogers Professor in Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She joined the faculty in 2004, holding the Julius E. Davis Chair in Law in 2010-11, Vance Opperman Research Scholar in summer 2020, and Stanley V. Kinyon Tenured Teacher of the Year in 2016-17. Hickman was Donald C. Alexander Visiting Professor in Tax Law at Harvard Law School in 2012-13 and Visiting Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2003-04. Prior to academia, she practiced as a certified public accountant, clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and worked as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Chicago on corporate and international tax matters. In 2018-19, she served as Special Adviser to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. She holds a B.S. in business administration with a concentration in accounting and second major in history from Trinity University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law, earning the Raoul Berger Prize and Lowden-Wigmore Prize.

Professor Hickman is a leading authority in tax administration, administrative law, and statutory interpretation, with research interests in administrative law, business law, federal taxation, statutory interpretation, tax law, tax policy, and tax administration. She teaches Basic Federal Income Tax, Legislation and Regulation, Advanced Administrative Law, and Originalism. Her scholarship includes the Administrative Law Treatise (7th ed. 2024, 6th ed. 2019, with Richard J. Pierce, Jr.), cited by the U.S. Supreme Court; Federal Administrative Law: Cases and Materials (4th ed. 2023, with Pierce and Christopher J. Walker); Understanding Administrative Law (7th ed. 2022). Key articles: "Harmonizing Delegation and Deference After Loper Bright," 100 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1924 (2025, with Amy J. Wildermuth); "Delay, Politics, and Expertise in OIRA Tax Review," 45 Va. Tax Rev. 125 (2025, with Bridget C.E. Dooling); "Textualism and the Administrative Procedure Act," 98 Notre Dame L. Rev. 2071 (2023, with Mark R. Thomson). She is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, Senior Fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States (former chair of judicial review committee), and serves on ABA and Minnesota State Bar Association administrative law governing councils.

Professional Email: khickman@umn.edu