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.
Adler sets forth systematic new framework for assessing government policies
In his new book, Measuring Social Welfare: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2019), Professor Matthew Adler demonstrates how two social welfare function measures — utilitarianism and prioritarianism — can improve the evaluation of governmental policies. Adler spoke with Duke Law Magazine about his book and his broader goals to improve policy assessment.
Study ranks Duke Law faculty No. 4 for influence on other disciplines
The study, conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University, measured the number of times that articles in non-legal publications by each school’s professors were cited by other articles in non-legal journals. Duke ranked no. 4 out of the top 25 schools in the latest U.S. News ranking on this “Interdisciplinary Scholarly Impact Score.” Two members of the Duke Law faculty ranked in the top 50 most-cited authors in the study.