THE DUKE EXPERIENCE

Duke Law School is part of one of the world's pre-eminent research and teaching universities. Chartered in 1924, Duke University educates 6,000 undergraduate students from over 40 countries, as well as 5,000 graduate and professional students in business, divinity, engineering, the environment, law, medicine and the arts and sciences. More than one-third of the Duke student body comes to Duke from outside of the United States. Law students have the opportunity to participate in an enormous range of cultural, intellectual, and sporting activities across the greater Duke community. One-quarter or more of Duke Law's students pursue a joint degree, which places them in ever closer contact with students and faculty in other schools and programs at Duke. This closeness adds an additional level of educational and intellectual stimulation to the Duke Law experience.

Duke University sits amid hundreds of woodland acres in Duke Forest, which is itself surrounded by thousands of additional acres of rolling tree-covered hills, and a mix of rural, suburban and small city neighborhoods. State-of-the-art fitness and recreation centers are conveniently located on campus and available to students free of charge. Life beyond Duke leads to Durham and, a mere eight miles away, the Research Triangle Park (RTP) - one of the world's largest planned centers for high-tech research and development, attracting a distinct population of scientists, engineers, corporate executives and other professionals. RTP boasts the largest concentration of environmental and health research activity in the nation.

Durham, a diverse and dynamic city of over 200,000 residents, is one of the three points of the Research Triangle. Enhanced by its proximity to Raleigh, the state capital, and Chapel Hill, Durham consistently appears at the top of the list of the best places to live and work in the United States, according to sources such as Money magazine and the Employment Review, which in June 2002 voted Raleigh-Durham as the number one place to live and work in the country. The area enjoys a moderate climate, year-round outdoor recreation, moderately priced housing and a stimulating array of cultural, intellectual and athletic events. Unemployment is consistently low, and the proximity to three top universities - Duke, North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - provides easy access to outstanding medical care, excellent educational programs and nationally ranked sports teams.

Durham itself offers a symphony, arts council, museums, jazz and blues festivals, street and crafts fairs, eclectic restaurants, regional shopping destinations, a diverse array of large and small theater groups, rock concerts, an annual documentary film festival and the world-renowned American Dance Festival. You don't have to leave the Duke campus to appreciate some of the best in collegiate sports, including top-ranked Blue Devil basketball, lacrosse, golf, tennis and soccer teams. When you do leave campus, the legendary Durham Bulls play baseball in a beautiful park just down the road, and last year's Stanley Cup finalist Carolina Hurricanes are at home in Raleigh's Entertainment and Sports Arena, a new state of the art sports facility that is also home to the Carolina Cobras of the Arena Football League. The Carolina Panthers of the NFL are a two-hour drive away in Charlotte.

Students quickly discover that they don't have far to go to get away from it all, with the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains to the west and the Atlantic ocean to the east less than a three-hour drive away. Durham offers easy interstate access via I-40 and I-85, and Raleigh-Durham (RDU) International Airport is just 20 minutes away.