PUBLISHED:August 01, 2008

Allen G. Siegel, lecturer and Duke Law alumnus, dies

Allen G. Siegel, a senior lecturing fellow and 1960 graduate of Duke University Law School, died Monday, July 28, of heart failure.

A beloved member of the Law School community, Siegel regularly taught courses on employment law. Born May 19, 1934, in Chicago, Siegel earned his bachelor’s degree from the College of the City of New York in 1957 and an LLB from Duke University in 1960. Following his graduation from Duke Law, he practiced law in Jacksonville, Fla. He later served as a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board. In 1964, he joined the law firm of Arent Fox, where he became a partner and helped build one of the most successful labor and employment practices in Washington, D.C.

A member of the District of Columbia and Florida Bars, Siegel was considered an expert in the areas of collective bargaining and labor law, particularly as it relates to the Taft-Hartley Act. He also had extensive experience in matters arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act, various civil rights laws, and matters relating to unjust termination.

Siegel was an active member and supporter of the Duke Law community. In 1990, he established the Rabbi Seymour Siegel Memorial Moot Court Competition at Duke Law to honor his brother, who passed away in 1988. The moot court program later became an annual lecture series, also named for Rabbi Siegel, focusing on topics in law, ethics, and medicine. He also established the David H. Siegel Memorial Scholarship at Duke Law to honor his father. He served as a director of Duke’s Private Adjudication Center, which studied alternate dispute resolution techniques such as arbitration and mediation.

“Allen’s regular presence in the Law School, to teach his popular courses and to attend the Siegel Moot Court competitions and later the Siegel Lectures, will be sorely missed,” said Assistant Dean Jennifer Maher, a close colleague of Siegel’s. “He was a warm, generous, loyal and loving person, who included in his expansive definition of family not only his deeply-loved wife, children, grandchildren, parents and brother, but also his former professors and his colleagues at Duke Law School.”

An active civil servant and philanthropist, Siegel served as president and general counsel of the local affiliate of the United Cerebral Palsy Associations of America; director of the personnel committee, general counsel, first vice president, and chairman of the Jewish Social Services Agency; and as member of the board of regents of The Catholic University of America. He created the Phillip M. Siegel Memorial Scholarship at The Catholic University of America School of Engineering and the Jeanette Siegel Memorial Scholarship administered by the Jewish Social Service Agency.

Siegel was the 1996 recipient of the Lehrman-Pikser Award for Public Service, administered by the Jewish Social Service Agency of Greater Washington. He was a member of the American Bar Association, the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society, the American Judicature Society, the University Club of Washington, and Order of the Coif.

Siegel is survived by his wife, Rochelle; son Jonathan Siegel and his wife, Jody; daughter Dina Siegel Kessler T’86 and her husband, Ross Kessler; and grandchildren. Services were held in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Aug. 1.

Read Siegel's obituary in The Washington Post