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.
Environmental Law Institute selects articles by Brewster and Root Martinez as two of the year's best
Articles by Professors Rachel Brewster and Veronica Root Martinez have been selected by the Environmental Law Institute as two of the top 20 papers addressing environmental issues published in 2023. They will be included in its Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR).
Rachel Brewster, the Jeffrey and Bettysue Hughes Distinguished Professor of Law, was recognized for Enabling ESG Accountability: Focusing on The Corporate Enterprise (2022 Wisconsin Law Review 1367), in which she argues that Congress should pass legislation that reshapes corporate enterprise law to increase parent corporations’ responsibilities to supervise their subsidiaries through a set of ground rules for all corporations. In so doing, it will empower corporate leaders who want to achieve environmental, social, and governance goals, Brewster writes.
Also selected was Public Reporting of Monitorship Outcomes (136 Harvard Law Review 757) by Professor of Law Veronica Root Martinez, who argues that at the conclusion of all corporate monitorships, a report should be made publicly available that outlines whether the company engaged in a successful remediation effort. The initiative would improve transparency and can be facilitated through a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission periodic disclosure requirement and a new Office of Management and Budget policy, Martinez writes.
ELPAR is published annually in the August issue of the Environmental Law Reporter in collaboration with the Environmental Law Institute and Vanderbilt University Law School. Vanderbilt Law students and professors work with senior staff from ELI, and an expert advisory committee to identify the year’s best academic articles that present legal and policy solutions to pressing environmental problems.
Nowlin et al. propose a novel approach to training doctoral candidates in sustainability sciences
In a new paper, Clinical Professor of Law Michelle Benedict Nowlin JD/MA '92 and co-authors from the Nicholas School of the Environment offer a practical approach to training doctoral candidates in sustainability sciences that focuses on interdisciplinary practice rather than the traditional focus on developing depth in one discipline.
In Transdisciplinary doctoral training to address global sustainability challenges, published in PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, Nowlin et al. propose structuring PhD training around research lenses, network, and quality control, and explain how each of the three pillars will help candidates better contribute to the community of practice.
New funding opportunities call for transdisciplinary sustainability research, they note, and by learning to work across disciplines and produce solutions-driven sustainability research, PhD candidates will be better prepared to work in current socio-ecological systems on urgent environmental problems.
"Global sustainability challenges, such as climate change and the plastics crisis, converge across disciplines and involve diverse stakeholders," they write. "Given the magnitude and interconnected nature of sustainability challenges, problem-solvers must be trained across disciplines."