PUBLISHED:September 24, 2010

Welcome aboard

Duke Law has announced the addition of 14 members to the Board of Visitors, which serves as a reporting and recommending body to the dean of the Law School.

“We are grateful to these lawyers, judges, and business leaders -- both alumni and friends of the school -- for their willingness to serve on our Board of Visitors,” said Dean David F. Levi. “The board provides guidance to the Law School and deepens our ties to the legal profession and our alumni. We are fortunate that so many people of such distinction are willing to volunteer their time and energy in support of our faculty and students.”

Board members advise the dean on areas of key importance to the Law School: forward planning, new programs, the legal economy, physical facilities, and fund raising. The dean makes the appointments upon consultation with a committee of the board. Below is a list of new board members.

New Board of Visitors Members 2010

Richard N. Baer ’83
Alan R. Bender ’79
Chief Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr. ’68
Michael W. Devlin ’89
Mark R. Filip
Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe ’88
Harold A. Haddon ’66
Kirkland L. Hicks ’97
W. Bruce Johnson T’73, L’77, B’77
Deanna T. Okun ’90
Shami J. Patel B’95 L’97
Judge Anthony J. Scirica
H. Glenn Tucker T’77 L’80
Judge Mary Ellen Williams ’77

Richard N. Baer ’83 is general counsel, executive vice president, and secretary for Qwest Communications International, Inc. Under his leadership, Qwest's law department has been named law department of the year by Corporate Counsel magazine and one of the top 10 innovative law departments by Inside Counsel magazine. He also is active in community leadership and serves on the boards of National Jewish Health, the Colorado Legal Aid Foundation, and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, among other organizations. [See Baer's Qwest bio.]

Alan R. Bender ’79 is a partner of Trilogy Equity Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital firm. Bender served as executive vice president and general counsel with T-Mobile and as executive vice president and general counsel at Western Wireless Corp. He also was a co-owner of the Seattle Supersonics until 2008. [Read a profile of Bender.]

Chief Judge Garrett E. Brown Jr. ’68 has served as a judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey since 1985; he became chief judge in 2005. He is an adjunct professor at Columbus School of Law and Johns Hopkins University. He served as general counsel for the U.S. Government Printing Office from 1981 to 1983; chief counsel to the U.S. Maritime Administration from 1983 to 1985; and acting deputy maritime administrator for the U.S. Maritime Administration from 1985 to 1986. He was in private practice from 1973 to 1981.

Michael W. Devlin ’89 is a managing partner of Pharos Capital Group. Previously, he was a vice president and founding member of the business development group of Goldman Sachs. He also was actively involved with the Goldman Sachs principal investment area. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he practiced corporate law for three years at Davis Polk & Wardwell. Devlin is on the board of trustees of the Yale-China Association and the board of directors of the National Center for Boundless Playgrounds. [See Devlin's corporate profile.]

Mark R. Filip is a partner in Kirkland & Ellis’s Chicago and Washington, D.C., offices. From 2008 to 2009, he served as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, responsible for oversight of the Department of Justice's criminal, civil, and regulatory enforcement efforts, as well as the Department's rulemaking and administrative law efforts. From 2004 to 2008, Filip was a United States District Judge in the Northern District of Illinois. Previously he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He received Chicago Legal Aid Bureau’s 2008 William H. Avery Award for Commitment to Pro Bono Legal Work and Public and Community Service. [See his profile on his firm's website.]

Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe ’88 is the vice president of legal, commercial businesses, and commercial operations at Duke Energy Operations and oversees legal services for the company’s commercial business operations. Prior to joining Duke Energy, he was in private practice for 10 years, serving as partner at McGuirewoods LLP from 1999 to 2002. He has taught at the University of Richmond School of Law and is the immediate past president of the Duke Law Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Harold A. Haddon ’66 is a founding partner with Haddon Morgan and Foreman, a Denver law firm specializing in criminal defense and civil trials. He has defended individuals and major corporations in criminal cases and has acted as plaintiff's counsel and defense counsel in significant personal injury, legal malpractice, commercial and patent litigation. He served as chief trial deputy in the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office from 1970 to 1974; special prosecutor for the State Grand Jury in 1976 and 1977; chairman of the U.S. Attorney Selection Commission of Colorado in 1993; and chairman of the Federal Judicial Selection Commission of Colorado in 1994. [See Haddon's firm profile.]

Kirkland L. Hicks ’97 is managing counsel at Towers Watson, a global consulting firm that advises companies on human resources and financial and risk management. Hicks oversees the company’s commercial legal activities in North and Latin America. Previously, he served as secretary to the executive committee of Watson Wyatt Worldwide (predecessor to Towers Watson) and practiced law at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman).

W. Bruce Johnson T’73, L’77, B’77 is the interim CEO and president of Sears Corp. He joined Kmart in October 2003 as senior vice president and became executive vice president after Kmart’s merger with Sears. He previously served as director of organization and systems and member of the executive committee for Carrefour S.A. He also spent 16 years at Colgate-Palmolive where, in 1993, he was named vice president of technology operations and information technology. [See Johnson's corporate bio.]

Deanna T. Okun ’90 is chair of the U.S. International Trade Commission. She has been a member of the commission since 2000, serving two terms as vice chair and a previous term as chair. From 1993 to 1999, she served as counsel for international affairs to Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), where she was responsible for international trade issues and handled international energy and foreign relations issues for the senator’s work as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Okun also was a legislative assistant, managing Murkowski’s Foreign Relations Committee work. She previously was with Hogan & Hartson’s International Trade Group. [See Okun's bio on the USITC site.]

Shami J. Patel B’95 L’97 is the former chief operating officer and chief investment officer for Alesco Financial. He has served as managing director at Cohen & Co.; president of iATMglobal; chief financial officer of TRM Corp.; vice president and investment manager of FINOVA Mezzanine Capital, and investment banker with Robertson Stephens & Co. As an alumnus of both the Fuqua School of Business and Duke Law School, Patel volunteers at both schools.

Judge Anthony J. Scirica is a United States Court of Appeals judge for the Third Circuit; he served as chief judge of that circuit from 2005 to 2010. He was appointed in 2008 by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts to serve as chairman of the executive committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He has served as an assistant district attorney and as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas, and he has worked in private practice in the Philadelphia area. From 1971 to 1979, he served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he drafted the state divorce code, the sentencing guidelines act, and the witness immunity act. In 2010 he received the Devitt Award in recognition of his extraordinary service to the federal judiciary.

H. Glenn Tucker T’77 L’80 is a partner and chair of the corporate department of Greenberg Dauber Epstein & Tucker. He is chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association and director of its business law section; he also is a member of the business law section of the American Bar Association, and is a founding director and vice president of the Inn of Transactional Counsel (Morris & Essex Counties). Tucker recently completed a term on the Duke Law Alumni Association Board of Directors. [See Tucker's firm profile.]

Judge Mary Ellen Williams ’77 is a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims. Prior to her appointment in 2003, she served for 14 years as an administrative judge on the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals, where she resolved federal government contract cases. She was a partner at the law firm of Janis, Schuelke & Weschler from 1987 to 1989 and served as an assistant United States attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division from 1983 to 1987.

Click here to see the full list of current and life members of the Duke Law Board of Visitors.