Life at Duke Law

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. | Third Floor Loggia and Star Commons 

Register on the Third Floor Loggia then join your LEAD Fellows and classmates in Star Commons for a light breakfast.

Welcome to Duke Law School

9:00 a.m. | Star Commons

The Offices of Admissions and Student Affairs welcome you to Duke.

Dean's Welcome

9:30 a.m. | Star Commons

Dean Kerry Abrams will welcome you to Duke Law and talk about success in law school, your career, and beyond.

Meet your LEAD Fellow

10:30 a.m. | Various rooms (see breakout schedule)

Gather with your LEAD Fellows to get answers to questions related to the schedule, parking, university resources, and things to do in Durham. You will participate in activities with this group throughout LEAD Week, and your LEAD Fellow will continue to act as an advisor and social activities planner for your group throughout your first year. You can read more about the 2024-2025 LEAD Fellows here.

Professionalism Luncheon* 

12:15 p.m. | JB Duke

Dine with members of the Law School community, including featured speaker, DeAnna Evans '13, who will also lead students in the Duke Law School pledge.

Exploring Legal Career Paths*

2:00 p.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043
3:30 p.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041

Juris Doctor degrees are uniquely flexible credentials that can lead to amazing and unexpected opportunities during your career. Join the Career and Professional Development Center and the Office for Public Interest and Pro Bono for an overview of practice settings and individualized career counseling resources at Duke Law. A panel of alumni will share their career paths and advice.

The Honor Code and University Standards

2:00 p.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041
3:30 p.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043

Associate Dean William Hoye will review character and fitness requirements. Assistant Dean Lewis Hutchison will also introduce the Law School community's expectations relating to the Honor Code and university standards.

*Indicates Professional Development course credit

Building Community*

10:00 a.m.| Cohort B: Room 3043
11:00 a.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041

Alison Ashe-Card, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, will share ways to support a respectful and inclusive learning environment.

Sexual Misconduct Prevention

11:00 a.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043
10:00 a.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041

Victoria Krebs, Associate Dean of Students, will provide information on addressing sexual misconduct at Duke. The presentation will cover policies, processes, confidential and non-confidential resources, supportive measures, prevention efforts, reporting, filing a formal complaint, options for resolution, prohibited conduct, consent, and incapacitation.
 

Lunch with Classmates

12:00 p.m. | Star Commons

Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Classes

1:30 p.m. | LARW Sections 2, 4, 5 & 7
3:15 p.m. | LARW Sections 1, 3, 6 & 8

See breakout schedule

Introduction to Academic Technologies and the Law Library

1:30 p.m. | LARW Sections 1, 3, 6 & 8
3:15 p.m. | LARW Sections 2, 4, 5 & 7

Staff from Academic Technologies and the Law Library will introduce you to research and technology services at the Law School; there will also be time available for individual assistance completing the online computing orientation and/or a tour of the Goodson Law Library.

Ice Cream Social

4:00 - 6:00 p.m.| Star Commons

Celebrate the beginning of your Duke Law experience! Hosted by the Law School Alumni Association and the Duke Law Alumni and Development Office.

*Indicates Professional Development course credit

Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. | Star Commons

Screening of The Trials of Darryl Hunt

8:30 a.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041
8:30 a.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043

Watch the award-winning HBO documentary about Darryl Hunt, who was convicted of a rape and murder he did not commit and served 18 years in prison before being freed in 2003 based on DNA evidence.

Wrongful Convictions Panel

10:30 a.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043
11:30 a.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041

Exoneree, Dontae Sharpe, Mark Rabil, the attorney for Darryl Hunt, and Professor Jim Coleman, Director of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic, will answer your questions about wrongful convictions.

Public Interest and Pro Bono Opportunities

10:30 a.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041
11:30 a.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043

Assistant Dean Stella Boswell and Directors Bethan Eynon and D.J. Dore from the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono, will discuss ways to contribute to the community through pro bono and public interest work.

Lunch

12:30 p.m. | Star Commons

Pick up your lunch in Star Commons, then go to your assigned Pro Bono Project room and enjoy lunch with your fellow project members.

Pro Bono Projects

1:15 p.m. | See breakout schedule

Attorneys have an ethical obligation and professional responsibility to engage in pro bono legal work. during this session, work with fellow JD and LLM students to design and pitch pro bono projects to address unmet legal needs in communities across the country. 

*Indicates Professional Development course credit

Class Preparation and Case Briefing*

10:00 a.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041
11:00 a.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043

This session, led by Professor Joseph Blocher, is designed to make your faculty's expectations clear, and to provide instruction on how to meet those expectations so that you can be your most successful from the beginning of the semester.

Note Taking 101*

10:00 a.m. | Cohort B: Room 3043
11:00 a.m. | Cohort A: Room 3041

Professor Casey Thomson will cover best practices for taking effective notes in class, and then discuss recommended strategies for using those notes to study in between classes.  She will also explain some of the neuroscience behind why these strategies work.

Lunch with Classmates

12:00 p.m. | Star Commons

Legal Analysis, Research and Writing Classes

1:30 p.m. | LARW Sections 1, 3, 6 & 8
3:15 p.m. | LARW Sections 2, 4, 5 & 7

See breakout schedule

Thriving in the Classroom*

1:30 p.m. | LARW Sections 2, 4, 5 & 7: Room 3041
3:15 p.m. | LARW Sections1, 3, 6 & 8: Room 3041

The law school classroom invites you to consider diverse perspectives, advocate for a range of positions, take intellectual risks, and grapple with sensitive topics. Your professors will have different teaching styles and emphasize different cases, but they are all trying to guide you through rigorous and professional conversations about the most challenging and important problems. This session will explore classroom pedagogy, productive group discussions, the connection between the classroom and the legal profession, and how to thrive in the semesters ahead. 

North Carolina Barbeque

5:00 p.m. | Marcy’s Garden/Front Lawn

Celebrate the end of LEAD Week and the beginning of law school with your fellow students, faculty, and administration!

*Indicates Professional Development course credit.