Intellectual Engagement and Reflection on Values of Service and Commitment
It is a rare day when there is not an outside speaker, panel discussion, conference, symposium, "town meeting," brown-bag lunch forum, faculty workshop, or public lecture happening at Duke Law School. The programming is part of a deliberate strategy to nurture the values of leadership and professionalism in our students.
The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono sponsors numerous events throughout the year to underscore that commitment, keeping students engaged in the discussion of public issues and public service. Some of the annual activities are described below:
- Public Interest and Pro Bono Board
- Public Interest Kickoff
- Public Interest Retreat
- Faculty Lives in Public Service
- Public Interest Book Club and Speakers Series
- Women Judges' Forum
- Table Talk and Public Interest Summer Employment Recognition Day
Public Interest and Pro Bono Board
Created in 2002, the Public Interest and Pro Bono Board works with the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono to institutionalize Duke’s long-standing commitment to student leadership and service. Students assume leadership of the various pro bono projects or public interest activities available at the Law School, support each other on projects, and generally advise the work of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono. Learn more about board activities on the Student Leadership section of the public interest website.
Public Interest Kickoff and Sign-up
Each fall the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono sponsors the Public Interest Kickoff and Sign-up, an annual event promoting public interest and public service activities at the Law School, where students have the opportunity to sign up for pro bono or public interest event planning committees.
Public Interest Retreat
Started in 1998, the annual Public Interest Retreat is a time when for students, faculty and administrators interested in and committed to public service to spend a night away from school in a retreat setting reflecting on their public service aspirations and achievements. Speakers working in public interest are invited to address participants and participate in small group activities and workshops. The 24-hour overnight retreat starts with afternoon recreational activities, including classes led by students. Over the years these classes have been as diverse as yoga, breakdancing or Israeli martial arts. We have a 5:00 informal opening and ice breaker and then dinner. The formal opening starts at 7:00 p.m. The public interest dean introduces the five alumni speakers and the evening's keynote speaker. The keynote presentation is followed by a long question and answer session. Then the group gets to know each other better through ice breakers and then a party featuring, music, dance and a little karaoke. Early the next morning, we hear the life stories of five alumni speakers. The panel always includes alumni who have found their way to public service in diverse ways including work in non-profit advocacy organizations or the government and also private pro bono. That session is followed by breakout groups. Students then write a letter to their future selves which is mailed to them a year after graduation. The retreat ends with more student-led activities and panels. The retreat attendance has grown to more than 90 people in spring 2008. For several years, we have invited the other North Carolina law schools to each send two students.
The announcement to students for the 2008 retreat was:
The Public Interest Retreat Planning Committee, composed of administrators in the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono and students in all three classes and the LL.M. program, meets frequently throughout the fall to plan the event, and the Committee is led by student Co-Chairs. The 2009 Co-Chairs are Jenn Price and Bettina Roberts. The 2008 Co-Chairs were Jenn Ma and Jeff Ward.
The announcement for registration for the 2009 Public Interest Retreat: Get in touch with what motivated you to come to Law School! Join your classmates in a woodsy retreat setting; hear inspiring speakers who have found a way to provide public service from several different sectors; commune with nature and each other; come early for hiking and other fun outdoor activities; enjoy ice breakers and a DJ party; sleep in rustic bunk rooms nestled under a pine forest; eat great food; enjoy companionship, conversations and time for reflection with your peers - the perfect antidote for all that ails you! And all for just $30.00!!!
This year's Public Interest Retreat will be Feb. 6-7, 2009 at the New Hope Camp and Conference Center, which is about 15 miles west of the Law School. This year's theme is "Public Interest Remix: A New Spin on Lawyering."
The 2008 public interest newsletter contains feature articles on the 2008 retreat on pages 8-9. These are the agendas for the first ten years of the Retreat: 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999.
Faculty Lives in Public Service
The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono sponsors “Faculty Lives in Public Service,” a lunch speaker series that offers students an opportunity to meet and listen to the stories of faculty who have held positions in government or non-profit organizations, participated in pro bono opportunities, or used their scholarship for public service.
Some of our many featured faculty speakers have been:
- Professor Carolyn McAllaster, on her inspiration for starting Duke’s AIDS Legal Assistance Project and the valuable service it provides for a highly stigmatized, largely indigent segment of the population.
- Professor James Coleman on his representation of the unpopular client - convicted serial killer and death-row inmate Ted Bundy.
- Professor Erwin Chemerinsky on his experience representing before the Supreme Court a California man serving 50 years to life under California’s “three strikes” law for stealing nine videotapes from Kmart.
- Professor Jonathan Wiener on his public service work addressing climate change and other health and environmental risks. He helped organize the Americorps National Service program in 1993 and has held many other government and service positions.
- Professor Michael Tigar discussing his representation of controversial, high-profile criminal defendants and how law students can begin immediately to promote the ideals of the justice system. Past clients, many of whom Mr. Tigar represented as court-appointed counsel or pro bono, have included: Lynne Stewart (NY defense attorney representing "the Blind Shiek" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case and herself convicted of aiding a terrorist organization); Terry Nichols (Oklahoma Federal Building bombing defendant); Angela Davis (Black Panther Party activist once placed on FBI's Most Wanted list, now a professor); John Demjanjuk (convicted of Nazi war crimes in the US, deported, exonerated in Israel, returned to the US, sentence overturned, charged for a different set of Nazi war crimes, convicted, and deported to Ukraine); the Chicago Seven (acquitted of conspiring to incite rioting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention); H. Rap Brown (Black Panther Party activist - riot and arson charges - coined the phrase "Burn Baby Burn!"); John Connally (former Texas governor acquitted of accepting a $10,000 bribe to regulate dairy prices); and Kay Bailey Hutchison (current U.S. Senator, acquitted of records tampering as the Texas State Treasurer).
- Visiting Assistant Professor Zephyr Teachout, founder of Fair Trial Initiative and its post-graduate fellowship program and computer genius behind the presidential campaign of Governor Howard Dean.
- Visiting Professor Denny Lewis, a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell (New York) and past chair of its pro bono committee.
- Professor Sara Beale who has been active in law reform efforts related to the federal government's role in criminal justice matters, including as the Reporter for the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, which drafts the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, as associate reporter for the Workload Subcommittee of the Federal Courts Study Committee (where much of her work focused on the Sentencing Guidelines) and as the reporter for a three branch federal-state working group convened by Attorney General Janet Reno to consider the principles that should govern the federalization of criminal law. Beale also served as a member of an American Bar Association task force studying the federalization of criminal law. She has argued before the Supreme Court on six occasions, representing the United States and as appointed counsel for an indigent defendant.
- Professor Robert Mosteller who talked about representation of criminal defendants. He served as a co-reporter for the Death Penalty Initiative of the Constitution Project and has served as president of the North Carolina Center for Death Penalty Litigation. He has testified before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees in opposition to the proposal to add a victims' rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- Senior Lecturing Fellow Deborah Ross, a member of the NC House of Representatives and for over seven years, the Executive/Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.
Read more about the public service of these and other Duke Law faculty members on the Faculty Profiles section of the Duke Law website.
Public Interest Book Club and Speakers Series
Public Interest Book Club and Speakers Series offers students a chance to explore and discuss current legal issues in a literary context through a series of presentations and discussions. For ten years, this was a very structured program with a calendar of events and speakers set the year before. See the 2001-2002 Public Interest Book Club Announcement.
Women Judges’ Forum
Each spring for more than a decade, female judges from several trial and appellate levels of the North Carolina court system visit Duke Law School to encourage female students to consider the judiciary as a career choice. The judges, mostly from the NC Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, speak candidly about the barriers they faced as they aspired to office and how they overcame them, especially in the days before many women lawyers served on the courts. This event, which is now held at most law schools in North Carolina each year, was the brainchild of NC Court of Appeals Judge Linda McGee working with the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.
Table Talk and Public Interest Summer Employment Recognition Day
The fall Public Interest Summer Employment Recognition Day honors students who spent the previous summer working in the public sector. Activities marking the day include a celebratory breakfast and a “Table Talk,” a peer mass-counseling event at which honorees share their experiences with and offer public interest career advice to their fellow students in such areas as Civil Rights, Legal Aid, Criminal Law, Environmental Law, International Law, etc. See the list of participants for Fall 2008 Summer Public Interest Recognition Day "Table Talk" Peer Counseling.