Vanderbilt Law School has received a $10 million commitment from Sara J. Finley, JD’85, to advance Vanderbilt Law School’s leadership in the study of how law, regulation and policy impact equality, equity and opportunity for women.
“This is an extraordinary gift that will advance our understanding of the ways in which law and policy shape our experiences in leadership, in the workplace and across so many other spheres,” Provost C. Cybele Raver said. “Sara is such a remarkable, pathbreaking corporate leader and Vanderbilt Law School alumna. I am so very grateful to her for her vision, generosity and support of our school.”
The gift will be used to establish a chair and to endow a program for research, education and advocacy relating to equal rights, equal opportunity and nondiscrimination.
The investment will also fuel the continued progress and deepen the impact of Vanderbilt’s Dare to Grow campaign, which supports the Law School through scholarships, faculty support, facility upgrades and programming to prepare our next generation of lawyers and legal scholars.
“Sara has long been a leading adviser and supporter of the Law School, and we are grateful that our faculty and students will have additional opportunities to both study and impact our legal system through her visionary gift,” said Chris Guthrie, dean of Vanderbilt Law School.
Professor Jennifer Bennett Shinall, has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the Sara J. Finley Chair in Women, Law and Policy. Shinall’s research focuses on discrimination, particularly in the areas of gender and disability. Her work examines how obesity, pregnancy and health status more generally affect labor market outcomes, the gender disparities these effects may have and potential remedies for those disparities. She won a 2022 Chancellor’s Award for Research in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for research on laws protecting women in the workplace.
“I am thrilled that Professor Shinall will hold the Sara J. Finley Chair,” Dean Guthrie said. “She is a wonderful scholar, teacher and leader in the field.”
Shinall was the first graduate of the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics at Vanderbilt University, earning her J.D. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt. Before returning to Vanderbilt in 2013, Shinall was a clerk for Judge John Tinder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. She earned an A.B. in history and economics magna cum laude at Harvard University and was named to Phi Beta Kappa.
Shinall teaches Employment Discrimination Law and Employment Law to J.D. students and teaches Labor Markets and Human Resources and the Ph.D. Workshop for the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics.
“Just down the street from our law school, women first earned the right to vote when Tennessee became the final state to ratify the 19th Amendment,” Finley said. “Now, over 100 years later, the roles and rights of women continue to dominate headlines and policy, as women continue to navigate a complex legal framework impacting their lives at work, at home and in society.
“Vanderbilt University will be an outstanding steward for this important work, and I am proud to know that future generations of lawyers, both women and men, will benefit from the teaching and programming offered through this new Women, Law and Policy initiative. The program aspect of this initiative has the potential to be innovative and transformative, and I hope my gift will inspire others to support the programming so that we can expedite its development and impact.”
In her 30-year legal career, Sara Finley has handled complex acquisitions, faced down a hostile takeover bid, confronted an involuntary bankruptcy filed by the state of California and been a key part of the executive team responsible for creating one of the nation’s largest health care companies. She accomplished these challenges not as a partner in a major law firm, but instead while rising through the ranks of a corporate legal department on her way to becoming her company’s general counsel.
“When I graduated, the accepted career path was to join a law firm and work your way up,” said Finley.
But after making partner, she realized she wasn’t on the right path for her. An opportunity with a newly public health care company with $300 million in annual revenues led to two roller-coaster decades, culminating with Finley being named general counsel for CVS Caremark (now CVS Health), which today is a Fortune 15 company with more than $140 billion in revenues.
Finley recently established the Sara J. Finley Law and Business Scholarship for law students who have demonstrated an interest in corporate law or a business career. “One of the great things about establishing this scholarship is knowing that students interested in the business world might feel a lighter debt load or a bit more flexibility to choose the path they want to pursue,” she said.
“Over time, there will be a community of people who have benefited from the scholarship, and it will be exciting to see what they accomplish in their careers. I can’t imagine anything more satisfying in terms of seeing a return on my investment. That’s the big reason I believe it’s important to give to the law school through endowment.”
Growing interest in the law school’s Law and Business Certificate program and the new J.D./M.S.F. dual degree also support Finley’s intent. “The legal industry has changed tremendously,” she said. “Now it’s common to have lawyers who are entrepreneurs, CEOs, owners or managers of hedge funds or private equity funds, or on the general counsel path. Programs like these help launch law students into a career in business, and I want to promote that because that career path has been so enjoyable for me.”
Finley navigated a host of business and legal challenges along her way as the company she joined evolved into CVS Health, a healthcare corporation with almost 8,000 retail pharmacies, over 900 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits management business, and expanding specialty pharmacy and home infusion services. In 2011, she began stepping back from her role at CVS, and she has since worked on special projects as a senior legal adviser.“
In some ways, I think it is better to be lucky than good,” Finley said, reflecting on her career. “Hard work alone does not guarantee success; sometimes it is more a matter of taking a chance at a stage in your career when you can. My company survived many challenges with strong leadership and great teamwork. It has become a great success story, and I feel very fortunate to have had the career that I’ve had.”
Finley’s affection for the law school began when she visited campus to interview for the Patrick Wilson Scholarship, which she received.
Today, she continues to support the full-tuition Patrick Wilson Scholars Scholarship, which former Wilson Scholars sponsor.
“I enjoyed the entire visit—the professors, the administration, the scholarship selection committee, and especially the other students vying for the scholarship,” she said. “I have lifelong friends just from that weekend. I knew this was where I wanted to be, and I am grateful to Vanderbilt for the opportunities it gave me.”