Great Collaborations
Student engagement and mentor encouragement make for great collaborations
Every semester, Duke Law Professor Jeff Powell offers his first-year constitutional law students advice for their remaining time in law school: Make the system work for you.
“Our rules permit crafting something that meets your interests–which may include exposing yourself to things you don’t know anything about just to see if it meets your interests,” Powell advises. “One way to avoid burnout is to take an active role in shaping the upper years.”
Increasingly students are doing just that, through independent study projects, ad-hoc seminars, clinics, and case work. These are now hallmarks of the Duke Law experience, with student initiative nurtured by faculty and alumni. Combine engaged students with mentors who are equally engaged, and dynamic projects like these result.