Professor

Katharine

K.

Baker

Katharine Baker will hold the Aliber Family Chair at the University of Iowa College of Law starting in the fall of 2025.  She is an expert in family law, particularly in the modern law of marriage and parenthood, and she has written extensively on sexual violence and misconduct, especially in the lives of young adults. Her work focuses on the intersection of women's intimate lives and the law. 

Baker's articles have been published in numerous journals, including the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, University of Chicago Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, and Boston University Law Review. She is also the author of Family Law: The Essentials (with Katharine B. Silbaugh) and numerous book chapters. 

Baker is a multiple award-winning teacher, having taught Contracts, Property, Family Law, Evidence, Gender and the Law, Sexual Orientation and the Law, Environmental Law, and numerous seminars on feminism. She has also developed and taught several novel experiential courses designed to prepare law students with non-doctrinal skills they need to be successful professionals.  

Baker started her career at Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1993.  She was the Associate Dean for Faculty Development at Chicago-Kent  from 2001-2010.   From 2016-2020, she was Associate Dean for Administration and Strategic Initiatives at Chicago-Kent. She joined the University of Iowa law school in the summer of 2025.  She has visited at Yale Law School, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Northwestern Law School.