PUBLISHED:April 30, 2007

The Hon. David F. Levi is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The incoming dean of Duke Law School, The Honorable David F. Levi, chief U.S. district judge of the Eastern District of California, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Levi, who will become dean on July 1, is one of eight new law fellows among a class of 203 fellows and 24 foreign honorary members, whose election the Academy announced on April 30.

According to the Academy’s press release, fellows and foreign honorary members are nominated and elected to the august institution by its current members, scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines. Other members of the 2007 Class of Fellows include former Vice President Albert Gore, Jr.; former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome these outstanding leaders in their fields to the Academy,” said Academy President Emilio Bizzi in the release. “Fellows are selected through a highly competitive process that recognizes individuals who have made preeminent contributions to their disciplines and to society at large.”

“Throughout its history, the Academy has convened the leading thinkers of the day, from diverse perspectives, to participate in projects and studies that advance the public good,” added Chief Executive Officer Leslie Berlowitz. “I am confident that this distinguished class of new fellows will continue that tradition of cherishing knowledge and shaping the future.”

A leader in law reform, Levi was appointed by former Chief Justice William Rehnquist to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1994, and as chair of that committee in 2000. In 2003, Rehnquist appointed Levi to chair the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, which oversees all federal rule-making conducted by the Judicial Conference, the body charged with revising and crafting rules and practice for approval by the U.S. Supreme Court. Levi is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute (ALI) and has served as an advisor to the ALI’s Federal Judicial Code Revision and Aggregate Litigation projects.

Levi will be inducted to the Academy with the rest of the 2007 Class of Fellows on Oct. 6 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Read the press release of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.