Faculty & Research
The faculty of Duke Law School is made up of innovative and influential scholars who are also passionate, creative, and caring teachers.
Duke Law professors are leaders in a broad range of fields and highly regarded for their research, writing, and public service. A community of scholars, they are collegial, collaborative, and interdisciplinary, and many hold joint appointments or collaborate with colleagues in other Duke schools and departments.
They also care deeply about helping students learn, both in the classroom and beyond, devote substantial time to students' academic and professional development, and continue to celebrate successes and provide counsel through difficult times once students become practicing lawyers.
The deep and ongoing engagement of our faculty with the subjects that they study and teach and the students they mentor creates an intellectual excitement that is palpable in our classrooms and hallways and is the foundation for an atmosphere of collaboration and respect that defines our school culture.
Coleman defends scholarship against misuse by U.S. Soccer
On March 13 Professor of Law Doriane Coleman published an editorial in The Washington Post decrying the use of her work on sex differences in sport by the U.S. Soccer Federation to bolster its claim that the Women's National Team should be paid less than the comparable men's team. "It’s difficult to understand how the federation got this so wrong," Coleman said. "My argument was that to achieve sex equality in sport, which undoubtedly includes equal pay for male and female athletes, it is necessary to have policies that recognize, rather than ignore, sex and the facts of biological sex differences." Three days later, U.S. Soccer filed a new brief that did not include references to Coleman's work.
Frakes is finalist for prestigious Health Care Research Award
A paper on defensive medicine co-written by Professor of Law and Economics Michael Frakes and Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at MIT, was selected by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation as a finalist for its prestigious Health Care Research Award. Frakes's and Gruber's study found that, in childbirth, physicians who could be sued for malpractice actually intervened less - counter to previous findings on inpatient care generally. Their paper suggests there are differences in defensive medicine practices among medical specialties. The winner will be announced later this year.