Donald H. Beskind
Professor of the Practice of Law
Donald H. Beskind was a John S. Bradway Fellow at Duke from 1975-1977. He received his LL.M. at the conclusion of his fellowship and joined the Duke Law faculty, first as an Assistant Professor and then as Associate Professor and Director of the Clinical Legal Studies Program. In 1981, he returned to private practice, co-founding Beskind, Rudolf & Maher with whom he practiced until 1993. In 1993, he joined what is now Twiggs, Beskind, Strickland & Rabenau, and will have been practicing with that firm until January of 2010 when he returns to full time teaching at the Law School as a Professor of the Practice and becomes Of Counsel to his firm. While in private practice between 1981 and 2010, as a Senior Lecturer in Law, Professor Beskind directed and taught in Duke’s Trial Practice program and also periodically taught evidence.
A native of Westport, Connecticut, Professor Beskind received his A.B. in sociology from The George Washington University in 1969 and his J.D. with honors from the University of Connecticut. His more than 30 years in practice was devoted to representing plaintiffs in civil cases and defendants in criminal cases. Professor Beskind is a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers and will become its Administrative Secretary and Editor of its Quarterly in 2010. He is also fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has served on the Board of Governors of both national and North Carolina trial lawyer organizations, and has chaired the committees on continuing legal education for both. He was a founding board member of North Carolina Prisoner’s Legal Services and served as its President. Professor Beskind lectures on evidentiary and trial skills topics across the United States, runs trial training programs at major law firms and has trained solicitors and barristers in the United Kingdom.
Professor Beskind is the co-author North Carolina Evidentiary Foundations (Lexis/Nexis 2008); Problems in Trial Advocacy (NITA 2007); and numerous cases files used for professional training including BMI v. Minicom (Advanced, Pretrial and Basic Skills editions – NITA) and State v. Burns (NITA).