Hess is the UTK Distinguished Service Professor and Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee, where she has taught trusts and estates, taxation, estate planning, and property since 1981. Before coming to Tennessee, Professor Hess practiced law in New York City and Charlottesville, Virginia, concentrating her practice in estate planning, estate administration, and taxation. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Professor Hess serves as Vice-Chair of the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law’s Publications Advisory Board and Community Outreach Standing Committee. In 2005, The National College of Probate Judges honored Professor Hess with the Treat Award for Excellence.

She also is an academic fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a member of the Board of Directors of the Knoxville Estate Planning Council, and is active in the Tennessee Bar Association, the Virginia Bar Association, and the Association of American Law Schools. Professor Hess is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars in Tennessee and elsewhere.