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.
Rai leads study on pharmaceutical patent challenges under America Invents Act
Elvin R. Latty Professor of Law Arti Rai is the lead investigator on a one-year grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to examine whether the administrative system for patent review established by the America Invents Act of 2011 is impacting patent terms for small-molecule drugs and large-molecule biologics and thereby affecting the availability of less expensive generic or biosimilar equivalents.
Second Amendment experts help shape debate as Supreme Court considers first gun rights case in 10 years
As the Supreme Court prepared to hear oral arguments in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, New York, its first gun rights case in nearly a decade, Professors Joseph Blocher and Darrell Miller, co-directors of the Duke Center for Firearms Law, provided expert analysis and commentary on issues including the constitutional merits of the case, other gun rights cases in the pipeline, and how the shifting ideological makeup of the Court has influenced which cases it will hear. Blocher and Miller filed an amicus brief in support of neither side in the New York case, for which a decision is expected next summer.