2024 Alumni Award Winners
Charles S. Murphy Award for Achievement in Civic Service
Darcy Walker Krause JD'04
Darcy Walker Krause is the Founder and CEO of Good Grief Gal, LLC. After practicing law for five years, Darcy returned to school and received her master’s in social work in 2012 from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. Since that time, Darcy has dedicated herself to providing grief education and support. In this capacity, Darcy was the executive director of Uplift Center for Grieving Children for the City of Philadelphia for approximately 10 years, overseeing transformational organizational growth and change. Under her leadership, Uplift provided free grief services to more than 2,500 children annually.
In her current role at Good Grief Gal, LLC, Darcy provides portfolio-based grief services, including motherless daughters workshop facilitation, expert witness testimony, corporate presentations on grief-informed work culture, grief and trauma education/support, and non-profit management consulting to grief-focused organizations.
Darcy’s nomination for this award focused on her unwavering dedication to helping children experiencing grief and loss, the need for which was amplified when the pandemic struck, as there were even more bereaved children in the Philadelphia area. Darcy ensured that Uplift met community needs through training 1,000+ professionals to navigate the challenges of childhood grief. Darcy has been actively involved with the National Alliance for Children’s Grief, serving on the Board of Directors for the last six years as secretary, vice president, and president. She is currently a member of the NACG President’s Circle, working in an advisory capacity to the CEO. Darcy has also served on the Duke Philadelphia Board and is involved in the Board’s Civic Engagement Committee work. Due to her inspirational work in these capacities, Darcy was an ideal candidate for this award, which celebrates “a graduate's commitment to the common good through his or her service to the community or dedication to education.”
A. Kenneth Pye Award for Excellence in Education
Stella Boswell AB'90
Associate Dean, Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono
Stella Boswell is the associate dean of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono at Duke Law School. The office promotes values of service and community leadership to the broader Duke Law community, while offering career support for students interested in government and public interest careers, programs, and fellowships. Stella also oversees the Public Interest and Public Service Certificate Program. Joining the law school in 2004, Stella began as a counselor in the Career and Professional Development Center. She was promoted to assistant dean in 2014 before transitioning as assistant dean of Public Interest and Pro Bono, where she became associate dean in 2023.
Stella received her undergraduate degree from Duke University. Prior to attending law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Stella served as a court advocate for the Orange/Durham Coalition for Battered Women. After law school, she joined a civil litigation firm in Durham. When she left her practice in 1999, Stella became a legal affairs counsel for the North Carolina Advocates for Justice where she ran the amicus curiae program, worked as a lobbyist, and oversaw a statewide high school mock trial program. Stella was a long-time board member and a past president of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys. She is a board and executive committee member for the NC Legal Education Assistance Foundation.
Stella was chosen as the recipient of the A. Kenneth Pye Award due to her “huge contributions to the Duke Law community and [how] she continues to have a profound impact on the public interest and pro bono students and alumni.” Stella’s nominator spoke to her high level of personal care for each of the students she has worked with and highlighted that her work to champion the public interest and pro bono programs at Duke Law has continued to grow the community, enhance the programs, and raise the prestige of the programs that are offered. Stella’s commitment to her students makes her an exemplary candidate for this award, as she certainly has “sensitivity to the needs of individual students” and serves them with “great compassion” – qualities that are attributed to A. Kenneth Pye, for whom this award is named.
Charles S. Rhyne Award for Professional Achievement
Valecia McDowell AB'95, JD'98
Valecia McDowell is a national thought leader in the areas of governmental and internal investigations, conduct risk management, and civil rights and racial equity assessments. She has experience conducting large-scale internal and governmental investigations reviews across the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America, with specific knowledge and experience in the areas of consumer finance and employee conduct risk, including practice and company-wide reviews and racial equity assessments. Valecia has represented clients in disputes, investigations, and negotiations involving domestic authorities, such as the Federal Reserve Board, OCC, CFPB, DOJ, SEC, HUD, FINRA, CFTC, DOA, OIG, Congress, State Attorneys General in the United States, and international authorities, such as the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Japanese Financial Services Agency (JFSA), and the Comissão de Valores Mobiliarios (the Brazilian Securities Commission).
Valecia is ranked in Chambers USA and Best Lawyers, included in national publications such as Bloomberg, American Banker, Corporate Compliance Insights, and Inside Counsel, and has served on Law360's Compliance Editorial Board. She is a frequent speaker at the annual gathering of SIFMA, the leading global trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers, addressing topics including conduct risk management, racial equity assessments, and best practices in regulatory investigations.
Over the past year, the London-based Financial Times identified Valecia as one of the “10 Most Innovative Legal Practitioners in North America” and Lawdragon listed her as one of the “Top 500 Lawyers in America” for her achievements in governmental investigations and civil rights.
For more than 20 years, Valecia has brought her candor, pragmatism, and diligence to bear on behalf of her clients, establishing herself as a go-to attorney in the investigations arena. She has also served as a guest instructor at Duke Law, teaching a course on internal investigations, and has frequently been selected to speak regarding conduct risk management at the SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar. Due to her unwavering dedication to her clients, the legal profession, and her commitment to teaching future lawyers, Valecia is a deserving recipient of this year’s Charles S. Rhyne Award and embodies the qualities set forth when the award was established in 1994.
International Alumni Award
Paul Van den Bulck LLM'93
Paul Van den Bulck obtained his law degree in 1990 from the University of Brussels (Belgium), graduating magna cum laude. In the same year, he completed a summer internship with Macfarlanes in London. After this internship, he became a lawyer at the Brussels bar and an associate at De Bandt, van Hecke (now "Linklaters"). After obtaining the Wiener-Anspach Scholarship to Cambridge University, and the BAEF Fellowship, a scholarship to study in the United States, Paul chose to complete a Master of Laws at Duke Law School in 1992. After completing his Master of Laws, he pursued his career as a lawyer in various international law firms, including one in the United States.
Since 2002, Paul has combined his legal practice with an academic career in Belgium and France, where he has taught at the Universities of Paris II and Strasbourg. He has been a member of the Paris Bar since 2007. He also practices mediation and has held several directorships and chairmanships of boards of directors. From 2021 to 2023, he was the first independent director and then independent chairman of the Royal Belgian Football Association.
Paul’s nomination for the International Alumni Award was supported by over a dozen of his LLM ’93 classmates, all of whom know him personally and recommended him for this award. According to his classmates, Paul’s “strong advocacy of good governance, diversity, and sustainability” has made him a deserving candidate for this year’s International Alumni Award. It is a true testament to Paul’s work ethic, comradery, and successful legal career that his classmates feel he exemplifies “the highest standards of professional excellence, personal integrity, and concern for the common welfare” – values of which this award upholds.
Young Alumni Award
Britton Sellers JD'09, LLM'09
Britt Sellers is currently Vice President & Assistant General Counsel at the league office for the National Basketball Association. A commercial lawyer at the NBA for over ten years, Britt primarily works with the league's Media and Events Departments. On the Media side, he works closely with the league's national television partners, ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery, and is also the lead lawyer in connection with the league's film and docuseries projects, such as "The Last Dance.” From an events perspective, he serves as both legal and strategic business advisor with respect to league-executed events, such as NBA All-Star, International Global Games, and the new In-Season Tournament. By way of example, in 2020, Britt led legal negotiations with Disney in connection with the NBA's "bubble" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Britt also counsels almost every other department at the league, including Global Partnerships, Social Responsibility, Basketball Operations, Marketing, Finance & Tax, and the league's international offices. He also regularly provides advice to the league's senior leadership, to NBA teams, and to the NBA's affiliate leagues (WNBA, NBA G League, NBA 2K League, and the Basketball Africa League). Prior to working at the NBA, Britt was an associate in the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell, in the firm's M&A and Capital Markets groups.
Britt’s active and engaged volunteer service to Duke Law since graduating in 2009 exemplifies the qualities for which The Young Alumni Award was established, namely, to honor an individual who has made “significant leadership and service contributions to Duke Law School and the legal profession.” Britt’s nomination highlights the fact that he “has been a constant presence mentoring students,” and that he has served on his reunion committee, on the LAA board for six years, and currently serves as co-chair of the Barrister Society. Britt has “gone above and beyond for the Dean, the Law School and our students,” which combined with his successful legal career, make him a fitting winner of the Young Alumni Award.
Outstanding Volunteer Service Award
Michael Dockterman JD'78
Michael Dockterman, a member of the celebrated Class of 1978, has been volunteering since he organized the third largest Walk for Hunger in America as a teenager.
Duke invited Michael to join the Law Alumni Association in 1996 and he became its president from 2001-2003. Michael then joined the Law School’s Board of Visitors and served as its chair from 2007-2009, remaining an active member of the Board through 2023. He has taught Trial Practice as a Senior Lecturing Fellow for over a decade, commuting weekly to Durham while balancing a trial practice that has led to his recognition as one of the 50 Trial Aces in the United States. With over 80 trials, The National Law Journal named Michael a “Trailblazer in Litigation” and one of its "Top 10 Winning Litigators in the U.S.”
In 2002, Michael received the Charles A. Dukes award from Duke University for developing programs to mentor young lawyers in their professional and personal development.
Michael served for years as a volunteer instructor at the Women’s Director Development Program at Kellogg School of Management. He is a member of the President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the National Association of Corporate Directors, and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Michael maintains a pro bono practice focused on protecting amateur athletes (leading to the only case ever tried before the International Olympic Committee), and voting rights.
As winner of this year’s Outstanding Volunteer Service Award, Michael embodies the criteria of “[distinguishing] themselves through their exceptional dedication and sustained commitment to the Duke Law community.” Since he graduated, Michael has served the Law School on boards, as a formal and informal advisor, as a teacher and a mentor, and in carrying the message of Duke Law into the upper echelons of corporations and law firms. As his nominator stated, “Michael has always gone out of his way to advocate for Duke Law School, his fellow alumni, and our students. Furthermore, he has been a promoter of diverse and younger attorneys within the profession. He lends a listening ear to everyone. It’s no wonder clients turn to him for all manner of legal issues.” Due to his decades-long dedication to serving the Duke Law community, we are thrilled to recognize Michael with this award.