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Kim Taylor-Thompson teaches courses related to criminal law and community and criminal defense at NYU School of Law. Her teaching and scholarship focus on the impact of race and gender on public policy—particularly criminal and juvenile justice policy—and the need to prepare lawyers to meet the demands of practice in and on behalf of subordinated communities. Taylor-Thompson founded the Criminal Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. As a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, she engaged in interdisciplinary research examining the ways that immature brain functioning in adolescents influences judgment and criminal behavior.
In 2018, she received the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award for excellence in teaching. On leave from the law school, Taylor-Thompson served for three years as the chief executive officer of Duke Corporate Education. She has consulted to top teams in Fortune 500 companies and governments on issues related to strategy execution and leading in complex environments. Before entering academia, Taylor-Thompson spent a decade at the DC Public Defender Service, ultimately serving as its director. Taylor-Thompson received her JD from Yale Law School and her BA from Brown University.