PUBLISHED:April 18, 2009
Law Alumni Association honors community members for career accomplishments, dedication to Duke Law
April 18, 2009 — The Duke Law Alumni Association (LAA) recognized four members of the Law School community for their career accomplishments and dedication and service to the School and the community during the Reunion 2009 kick-off celebration on April 17.
The 2009 Alumni Award honorees are Christopher Dean Dusseault ’94 (Young Alumni Award); Charles L. Becton ’69 (Charles S. Murphy Award); Candace M. Carrol ’74 (Charles S. Rhyne Award); and E. Carol Spruill (A. Kenneth Pye Award).
Young Alumni Award
Christopher Dean Dusseault ’94
The Young Alumni Award honors a recent graduate and distinguished professional who has made significant leadership and service contributions to the Law School
Christopher Dean Dusseault is a co-partner in charge of the Los Angeles and Century City office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s litigation department and its antitrust and trade regulation and media and entertainment practice groups. His practice focuses on antitrust and competition law litigation and counseling, as well as general complex commercial litigation. He also serves on the firm’s Hiring Committee, where he chairs the Summer Subcommittee that oversees the firm’s summer associate program nationwide.
Dusseault serves on the Duke Law Future Forum and the Law Reunion Committee.
Charles S. Murphy Award
Charles L. Becton ’69
The Charles S. Murphy Award honors a graduate’s commitment to the common good through his or her public service work or dedication to education, thereby reflecting ideals exemplified in the life and career of the late Charles S. Murphy, Class of 1934.
Charles L. Becton was a judge in the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 1981 to 1990 and in 1985 was named North Carolina Appellate Judge of the Year. He was a partner with Fuller, Becton, Slifkin & Bell in Raleigh, N.C., and serves as the president of the North Carolina Bar Association. He has been included in The Best Lawyers since 1983, and is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Attorneys, and the International Society of Barristers.
Becton is the John Scott Cansler Lecturer at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, and a senior lecturer in law at Duke Law. He has taught and lectured at trial advocacy skills institutes across the country, in Canada, and in the Republic of South Africa, and has received three of the four national trial advocacy teaching awards.
» Read Becton's thoughts on receiving the Charles S. Murphy Award
A. Kenneth Pye Award
E. Carol Spruill
The A. Kenneth Pye Award honors a graduate or member of the Duke Law community whose work in education reflects the life and ideals exemplified by A. Kenneth Pye, dean of Duke Law School from 1968 to 1970 and from 1973 to 1976.
E. Carol Spruill is a senior lecturing fellow and the former associate dean for public interest and pro bono at Duke Law School. She also has served as assistant dean and associate dean for academic affairs at Duke Law. She was the first dean of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono and shaped Duke Law’s pro bono community for 17 years. Spruill continues to teach Poverty Law at the Law School, which she has done each spring semester since 1993. Duke University presented her with its Blue Ribbon Diversity Award in 2006.
Charles S. Rhyne Award
Candace M. Caroll ’74
The Charles S. Rhyne Award honors a graduate whose career as a practicing attorney exemplifies the highest standards of professionalism, personal integrity, and commitment to education or community service consistent with the legacy of the late Charles S. Rhyne, Class of 1935.
Candace M. Carroll is of counsel with Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez & Engel in San Diego and has briefed and argued appeals in most of the federal judicial circuits, the California state courts, and the bankruptcy appellate system. She is a past president of California Women Lawyers, the statewide Women’s Bar Association, and of the San Diego County Bar Association. She currently chairs Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Judicial Appointments Committee for the Southern District of California.
Carroll has taught seminars in Advanced Legal Writing at Duke Law and is an honorary life member of the Law School’s Board of Visitors. She is a member of the Mordecai Scholarship Advisory Committee and represented the Law School on the University’s Development Committee for the Financial Aid Initiative.
The 2009 Alumni Award honorees are Christopher Dean Dusseault ’94 (Young Alumni Award); Charles L. Becton ’69 (Charles S. Murphy Award); Candace M. Carrol ’74 (Charles S. Rhyne Award); and E. Carol Spruill (A. Kenneth Pye Award).
Young Alumni Award
Christopher Dean Dusseault ’94
The Young Alumni Award honors a recent graduate and distinguished professional who has made significant leadership and service contributions to the Law School
Christopher Dean Dusseault is a co-partner in charge of the Los Angeles and Century City office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s litigation department and its antitrust and trade regulation and media and entertainment practice groups. His practice focuses on antitrust and competition law litigation and counseling, as well as general complex commercial litigation. He also serves on the firm’s Hiring Committee, where he chairs the Summer Subcommittee that oversees the firm’s summer associate program nationwide.
Dusseault serves on the Duke Law Future Forum and the Law Reunion Committee.
Charles S. Murphy Award
Charles L. Becton ’69
The Charles S. Murphy Award honors a graduate’s commitment to the common good through his or her public service work or dedication to education, thereby reflecting ideals exemplified in the life and career of the late Charles S. Murphy, Class of 1934.
Charles L. Becton was a judge in the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 1981 to 1990 and in 1985 was named North Carolina Appellate Judge of the Year. He was a partner with Fuller, Becton, Slifkin & Bell in Raleigh, N.C., and serves as the president of the North Carolina Bar Association. He has been included in The Best Lawyers since 1983, and is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Attorneys, and the International Society of Barristers.
Becton is the John Scott Cansler Lecturer at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, and a senior lecturer in law at Duke Law. He has taught and lectured at trial advocacy skills institutes across the country, in Canada, and in the Republic of South Africa, and has received three of the four national trial advocacy teaching awards.
» Read Becton's thoughts on receiving the Charles S. Murphy Award
A. Kenneth Pye Award
E. Carol Spruill
The A. Kenneth Pye Award honors a graduate or member of the Duke Law community whose work in education reflects the life and ideals exemplified by A. Kenneth Pye, dean of Duke Law School from 1968 to 1970 and from 1973 to 1976.
E. Carol Spruill is a senior lecturing fellow and the former associate dean for public interest and pro bono at Duke Law School. She also has served as assistant dean and associate dean for academic affairs at Duke Law. She was the first dean of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono and shaped Duke Law’s pro bono community for 17 years. Spruill continues to teach Poverty Law at the Law School, which she has done each spring semester since 1993. Duke University presented her with its Blue Ribbon Diversity Award in 2006.
Charles S. Rhyne Award
Candace M. Caroll ’74
The Charles S. Rhyne Award honors a graduate whose career as a practicing attorney exemplifies the highest standards of professionalism, personal integrity, and commitment to education or community service consistent with the legacy of the late Charles S. Rhyne, Class of 1935.
Candace M. Carroll is of counsel with Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez & Engel in San Diego and has briefed and argued appeals in most of the federal judicial circuits, the California state courts, and the bankruptcy appellate system. She is a past president of California Women Lawyers, the statewide Women’s Bar Association, and of the San Diego County Bar Association. She currently chairs Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Judicial Appointments Committee for the Southern District of California.
Carroll has taught seminars in Advanced Legal Writing at Duke Law and is an honorary life member of the Law School’s Board of Visitors. She is a member of the Mordecai Scholarship Advisory Committee and represented the Law School on the University’s Development Committee for the Financial Aid Initiative.