Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
Senior Lecturing Fellow
Ryke Longest serves as the Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic and a Senior Lecturing Fellow at the Duke University School of Law. He supervises students practicing in the clinic and teaches the seminar portion of the clinic.
Longest received his B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1987. Longest was awarded the Order of the Old Well in recognition of his service to student governance there. Prior to attending law school, Longest worked as a legal assistant in the Student Legal Services, a prepaid legal services plan. Longest graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1991. After graduation from law school, Longest worked as a solo practitioner doing criminal defense work as well as small civil cases. In 1993, Longest began to work for the North Carolina Department of Justice in the Environmental Division. During his 14 year career at Justice, he served as lead counsel to state level environmental agencies, boards and commissions. Longest litigated cases before administrative agencies, state courts, federal courts and appellate courts at all levels. He also drafted legislation and advised agencies on rulemaking. In addition, Longest represented the State of North Carolina in complex criminal appeals. He is admitted to practice in the state courts of North Carolina, the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of North Carolina, the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
Longest planned and conducted numerous Continuing Legal Education events for the Environmental Section of the North Carolina Bar Association. Longest has also taught sessions at conferences conducted by the National Association of Conservation Districts and the Institute of Government on soil and water conservation law. Longest presented a paper in 2006 to the Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality sponsored in part by the Nicholas School of the Environment, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Science Foundation.
Ryke and Lynn Longest live in downtown Raleigh with their son, Patrick. Lynn is a licensed real estate broker working with the firm of Hodge and Kittrell.