DEAN'S MESSAGE
In
considering Duke as your law school, you are looking at one of
the finest and most forward-looking law schools in the country.
Duke Law School is a leader in technology, which is rapidly changing
both what, and how, we teach. With respect to what we teach, recent
faculty appointments in the area of cyberspace law and international
intellectual property have made the School's intellectual
property program one of the very best in the world. Attention
to technology has also helped the Law School achieve excellence
in corporate law, constitutional and public law, international and
comparative law, and other subjects of importance to legal practice.
With respect to how we teach, Duke Law School is a leader in technological
innovation in the classroom. Our faculty are using innovative, web-based
teaching materials that promote new ways of learning the law, thinking
analytically, performing research, and practicing the skills of
a lawyer. Through the use of "smart" classrooms and interactive
video technology, our students in North Carolina can talk face-to-face
with renowned legal scholars across the country and overseas. This
is an exciting time to be part of Duke Law School.
Another example of Duke Law School's forward-looking vision is
its approach to internationalization. At Duke, international and
comparative law is not a separate area of law, among many others,
but a dimension of virtually all fields of law. Through wide-ranging
international
programs, students learn both the basic structure of public
and private international law, and they encounter international
and comparative issues in their courses on environmental law,
criminal law, business law, family law, dispute resolution, intellectual
property, and many other subjects. Recent faculty appointments
in international trade law and conflict of laws have enhanced
an already superior international law faculty.
Duke Law School has established important relationships with foreign
universities in Beijing, Geneva, Cambridge, Tokyo, Santiago, Paris,
and Hong Kong, and through these links-as well as through our Asian
and European summer
institutes in transnational law, our growing number of international
students, and the work of our Global
Capital Markets Center-we are strengthening our ties across
the globe and are providing our students with unprecedented opportunities
to gain international perspectives and experience.
Duke Law School also is committed to an interdisciplinary approach
to teaching and research. The School offers courses
across a broad spectrum of subjects and collaborates with other
schools and departments within Duke University, including the Fuqua
School of Business, the Sanford
Institute of Public Policy, the Nicholas
School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and the Arts and
Sciences departments of English,
political science, history,
economics, and others, to
broaden the scope of its educational offerings and to promote interdisciplinary
collaboration in scholarship.
Even as it has pushed forward aggressively to prepare its students
for careers as lawyers
in a rapidly changing world, Duke Law School has retained its core
values as a small law school committed to preparing its students
for responsible and productive lives in the legal profession and
to providing national and international leadership through teaching,
research, and public service. Among the many new courses from which
our students can choose this fall are two new clinical
course offerings: the Community
Economic Development Law Clinic, and the Duke Law Clinic for
the Special Court in Sierra Leone. These clinics join the new Children's
Education Law Clinic, making three new clinics at Duke in 2002
alone.
Duke Law School has fostered a close and cooperative community
unparalleled at most other top law schools, with a balanced environment
of collaborative interaction and intellectual rigor. Our law faculty
are among the best in the nation, brilliant scholars who are renowned
in their fields and at the forefront of the profession. And our
esteemed network of alumni,
scattered across the globe, enjoy an impressive array of careers-spanning
not just the law but also the political, entertainment, and business
worlds. Our students are highly sought after by all sectors of legal
employment across the
nation and throughout the world. We fully embrace the diversity
of our students, alumni, faculty, and administration, who enrich
our intellectual community with a relentless flow of energy and
ideas.
I encourage you to apply to Duke Law School and hope you have
the chance to become a part of this exciting and innovative community.
Sincerely,
Katharine T. Bartlett
Dean and A. Kenneth Pye Professor of Law
