Remembering UC Law SF Professor Bill Hutton

UC Law San Francisco remembers Professor William “Bill” Hutton, who taught law at the College from 1980 to 2017.

UC Law SF Provost & Academic Dean Morris Ratner issued the following statement on the recent passing of Professor William “Bill” Hutton, who taught as a full-time faculty member at UC Law SF from 1980 to 2017.

Dear colleagues,

I’m writing to let you know about our colleague Bill Hutton’s passing and about a March 22 celebration of his life his family has invited any community member to attend. His obituary states in part:

William Terrel Hutton, a nationally recognized expert in nonprofit and tax law who helped pioneer modern land conservation in the United States, died on October 30, 2025. He was 88.

Over a career spanning more than five decades, Bill Hutton played a central role in forging legal tools to protect and conserve America’s most cherished natural places from coast to coast. He seeded the growth of national nonprofit and conservation organizations, local and regional land trusts, while educating generations of law students at New York University School of Law and University of California College of Law, San Francisco….

In 1980 he moved with his young family to San Francisco to join the faculty of University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, where he taught until retiring as Professor of Law Emeritus in 2017.

Bill was a pillar of our tax bench and community. He was a generous mentor and close friend to many, including Professor Heather Field.

Bill’s daughter, Terrel Hutton, shared the following note: “Our family invites the College to announce his passing as well as a planned Celebration of Life: Sunday, March 22, 5:00- 7:00 p.m. at the Presidio Golf & Concordia Club in San Francisco.”