Alumni

The Law Alumni Association Board of Directors is now accepting nominations for the 2024 Alumni Awards, which will be presented in April 2024. You can submit nominations here.

» Learn more about our Alumni Awards and the people who inspired them.

Charles S. Murphy Award for Achievement in Civic Service

Emily Friedman '98

Emily B. Friedman serves as Deputy General Counsel at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Emily’s responsibilities have included serving as the dedicated legal advisor for the Foundation’s Chicago Commitment, Nuclear Challenges, and 100&Change initiatives, and working with the Foundation’s Impact Investments team on program related investments, along with other members of the legal team. Emily also serves as the Assistant Secretary for the Foundation.

Emily joined the Foundation after serving as in-house counsel at The Oprah Winfrey Foundations for more than 7 years, where her responsibilities ranged from providing counsel to Oprah’s Angel Network to advising on legal issues related to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Emily’s legal career started as a Skadden Fellow at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.

Emily received her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and her law degree from Duke University School of Law. Emily also received a Master’s degree in social policy and non-profit management from Brandeis University.  Emily has served on the Board of ACC Chicago as well as on the Board of the Duke Law Alumni Association.  She currently serves as a member of the Alumnae Leadership Council at Duke Law School, and is a guest lecturer in Professor Schmalbeck’s “Tax Exempt Organizations” class.

 A. Kenneth Pye Award for Excellence in Education

Lisa Kern Griffin

Candace M. Carroll and Leonard B. Simon Professor of Law Senior Associate Dean for Faculty & Research
 

Lisa Kern Griffin teaches and writes about constitutional criminal procedure, evidence, and federal criminal justice. Her recent scholarship concerns the status and significance of silence in criminal investigations, the relationship between constructing narratives and achieving factual accuracy in the courtroom, the criminalization of dishonesty in legal institutions, and the impact of popular culture about the criminal justice system.

Griffin’s book, Lying, Truth-Seeking, and the Law of Questioning, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. Her academic articles have appeared in the California Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the Duke Law Journal, the Georgetown Law Journal, the New York University Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Texas Law Review, and the online editions of the Cornell Law Review and the Michigan Law Review, among others. She has also edited and contributed to volumes of Law & Contemporary Problems and authored chapters in several books. Her opinion essays have been published in various outlets, including The Atlantic, Slate, SCOTUSblog, and The New York Times.

Griffin joined the Duke Law faculty in 2008 and is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award. From 2021-2023, she served as the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research. Prior to coming to Duke, she taught at the UCLA School of Law, and she will be a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 2024. Griffin is also an elected member of the American Law Institute, has filed amicus briefs with the United States Supreme Court, served as a legal advisor to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and has testified before the United States Congress on public corruption prosecutions and proposed revisions to the fraud statutes.

Griffin graduated from Stanford Law School, where she was President of the Stanford Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. She served as a federal prosecutor in the Chicago United States Attorney’s Office and also clerked for Judge Dorothy Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court. 

 Charles S. Rhyne Award for Professional Achievement

Reggie Clark '78

Reginald J. Clark (“Reggie”) has spent his entire legal career practicing in the Atlanta office of Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP (formerly known as Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, LLP), where he was a partner from 1985 through 2020 and is now Of Counsel. He specializes in the corporate tax area, and advises clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, other corporate transactions and tax planning matters. Reggie formerly served as an Atlanta office practice group leader and as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

His professional activities include past service as the Chair of the Corporate Tax Committee of the American Bar Association Tax Section. He was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and a member of the American Law Institute. He has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Southern Federal Tax Institute and the Georgia Federal Tax Conference. Reggie has achieved recognition in the Chambers USA Guide, where he has been ranked in Band One, Tax-Georgia.

He is a graduate of the Leadership Atlanta Program, a former member of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Atlanta and a current Trustee of Marist School in Atlanta.

Reggie received his undergraduate degree from Duke, where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar. He served as Note & Comment Editor of the Duke Law Journal. As an alumnus, he has dedicated himself to supporting Duke Law, Duke University and Duke Athletics for 45 years through steady and generous support and volunteer service. He is a member of the Law School’s Board of Visitors and former member of the Law Alumni Association Board of Directors.

 International Alumni Award

Kris Van Hove '92

Kris Van Hove is a partner at Van Bael & Bellis. Kris focuses on EU and national competition law, as well as regulatory law. He specializes in competition law, with particular expertise in cartels, merger control, dominant market positions, distribution and technology transfer. Kris also specializes in regulatory matters in the area of aviation law.

Kris’s practice covers a wide variety of sectors, including financial services, car parts, aviation, consumer products, basic industries, steel, energy, chemicals, construction equipment, building materials, electronics, music, and information and communications technology. He handles notifications and investigations as well as litigation before the EU and national courts. Kris’s notable experience includes the appeal to the EU General Court which led to the annulment of the Commission in CISAC.  Kris earned his LL.M. from the Duke University School of Law in 1992 after earning his law degree at the University of Leuven in 1989 and his Masters of European Law at Sorbonne (Paris II) in 1990.

In addition to his accomplishments as an expert in EU and national competition law, Kris has gone above and beyond to help mentor international students, including the establishment of an internship for 1st year students in the joint JD/LLM in International Law program at Duke Law School.

 Young Alumni Award

Zachary Kleiman '13

Zachary Z. Kleiman, in his role as President of Basketball Operations & General Manager, is the Memphis Grizzlies’ lead basketball operations executive and personnel decision-maker, in which capacity he oversees all basketball matters, including professional and amateur scouting, draft preparations, player acquisitions and salary cap management.  After assembling an up-and-coming roster that finished with the second-best record in the NBA last season, Kleiman was recognized as the 2021-22 NBA Basketball Executive of the Year, becoming the youngest recipient of the award.

Prior to joining the Grizzlies in 2015 as the team’s in-house legal counsel, Kleiman practiced law at Proskauer Rose, where he represented clients in the sports industry – including the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball – in connection with an array of corporate matters. 

Zach serves the Duke Law community as a member of the Law Alumni Association Board of Directors and a mentor to Law students interested in sports law.

Brandon Neal '08

Brandon Neal currently serves as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA).  In this role, he works closely with WBA’s Global Chief Legal Officer to provide strategic guidance, counsel and vision to senior and executive leadership teams.  Additionally, Brandon is responsible for leading a diverse range of corporate and commercial legal functions across the WBA Legal Department, including for Walgreens and Walgreens Health.  

Previously, Brandon Neal served as Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Legal Officer for Novant Health where he managed the Legal Department and supported the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer in all legal functions of the organization, including oversight for compliance and risk mitigation, as well as internal audit strategies and alignment throughout the organization.  Prior to joining Novant Health, Neal served as Managing Counsel in the Legal Department of Wells Fargo & Company in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Neal began his legal career  as a corporate associate for the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York City. He received his Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler Business School) and his Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law.   

Neal is very active in community and with philanthropic endeavors, both nationally and locally.  He currently serves on the national Board of Trustees of the National Urban League, the Duke Alumni Association Board, and the board of directors of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.  He previously served on the board of directors for the Urban Libraries Council, board of trustees of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, board of directors of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Foundation, and served as the President of the Duke Law Alumni Association Board.  In addition to his board service, he served as a co-chair of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce’s School Bonds Support Campaign, chair of the Unite Charlotte Advisory Council (United Way), co-chair of Duke Alumni Association (Charlotte), and is involved in numerous other community endeavors and fundraising activities.    

 Outstanding Volunteer Service Award

Bradley Zimmer '03

Bradley T. Zimmer’s professional career has been comprised of general counsel and executive leadership roles in global media companies. He served as general counsel & secretary of Convex Group and its HowStuffWorks subsidiary from early-stage through their sale to Discovery Communications. Notable media properties included World Book Encyclopedia, feature films, and music publishing with multiple RIAA-gold and multi-platinum awards. Bradley then served as general counsel & secretary and subsequently chief operating officer of Remark Media, a NASDAQ-listed global media company focused on broadcast and digital media in the Brazil, China and southeast Asia markets. Bradley is currently managing director of Cella Partners, which identifies technology infrastructure opportunities and works with consumer enterprise companies to accelerate their digital businesses. He received his A.B. in Public Policy from Duke University and JD from Duke University School of Law. Among many activities, Bradley served on the Law Alumni Association Board of Directors, co-chaired a joint Board of Visitors and Law Alumni Association Development Committee, and has provided valuable advice and counsel as a member of the Law School’s Board of Visitors. Additionally, he co-teaches an in-house counsel course at Duke Law and is plugged into organizations and constituencies across campus. He understands and loves Duke, and demonstrates that loyalty through service and action.