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Duke Law students presented Associate Professor Marin Levy with the 2017 Distinguished Teaching Award at the annual Duke Outstanding and Noteworthy Endeavors (D.O.N.E.) Awards, held Thursday in Star Commons. The D.O.N.E Awards, presented by the Duke Bar Association (DBA), recognize student organizations, student leaders, and faculty who make significant contributions to the community and academic experience at Duke Law. The Distinguished Teaching Award is supported by a gift from the Class of 1967.

Shelby Baird '18, president of the Duke Law chapter of the Federalist Society, and outgoing DBA President Rose McKinley ’17 received the awards for Outstanding Student Organization Leader and Outstanding Contribution to the Duke Law Community, respectively. The Duke Law chapter of the American Constitution Society, the Coalition Against Gendered Violence, and the Immigrant Education Project received the awards annually given to organizations. Nominations and feedback are solicited from the entire student body, and winners are finalized by a secret committee of students representing the classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019.

The awards were presented by Nicole Scully ’18, DBA’s academics chair. Scully noted that many of the students who nominated Levy for the Distinguished Teaching Award  praised her patient and engaging classroom style while teaching first-year Civil Procedure, as well as her mentorship outside the classroom.

“Students described her as energetic, engaging, and interesting, especially through her use of storytelling through hypotheticals by using students in class to help the material truly stick in our minds by making it relevant to our lives,” Scully said. “Another student wrote: We could count on Professor Levy to clarify the important concepts we were learning, review them with us, and take time to answer our questions until the class was all up to speed.”

Students voiced their appreciation for Levy’s readiness to host extra study sessions and to offer advice on course selection and other academic matters in subsequent semesters, and nominators from the Section One first year softball team also were grateful for Levy’s support, Scully said.   “Many students mentioned that she even showed up to some of their softball section games. Now that’s true dedication.”

Levy called the award "an incredible honor."

"A friend once told me that winning the Teaching Award – that is, receiving an award from the students – was the greatest achievement of his career," Levy said. "That seems to right, except it also seems funny to call something an achievement when really, it comes from being lucky enough to have amazing students."

She related the story of a student who had come to her in tears, because she thought a ‘cold call’ in class had gone poorly that day. Her confidence was shaken, not just about that particular class or professor, but about whether or not she belonged at Duke Law at all. Levy said she had felt the same way as a law student, then again as a law professor in her early days at Duke Law.

Learning how to persevere through these doubts is one of the critical lessons of law school, she said, quoting from a 1910 Theodore Roosevelt speech: “’It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.’

“This place, these people, they’ve taught you how to respond to the critic,” Levy said. “Yes, there will be times of self-doubt, but your greatest honors and achievements will be right around the corner and we will be right here, cheering you on.”

Baird was named Outstanding Student Organization Leader for her “impressive attention to detail while always keeping sight of the larger vision of the organization and caring for the wellbeing of individual members,” Scully said.

“She worked diligently to send almost double the number of students from last year to their national student symposium in New York City by coordinating travel logistics and acquiring multiple sources of funding. She is described as serving as a mentor to all of the 1Ls by helping them to not only navigate the academic waters of law school but also to find their voices within the larger community.”

McKinley was honored for her DBA leadership because “she worked to create a community of inclusiveness and to bridge gaps between students of various political affiliations and beliefs,” Scully said. “[McKinley] has been described as thoughtfully engaging the student body on a number of issues and fostering discussions within the Duke Law community one could not imagine could have happened without her.”

Nominators also praised McKinley for her outreach to the entire Duke Law student body.

“In her role as DBA president, she made a point to ask students what work she could be doing on their behalf and developed personal relationships with DBA constituents outside of the student government context,” Scully said. “It is clear that in all her actions she had the best interests of the student body in mind.”

The Duke Law chapter of the American Constitution Society (ACS) won the award for Outstanding Contribution to Civic Discourse. The ACS has held 13 events this year featuring Duke Law faculty and speakers from the government and organizations such as the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Many nominations for this group indicated that they are grateful to have its strong voice on our campus,” Scully said, noting that Duke Law and the Duke Law chapter of ACS will host the organization’s National Student Convention on Friday and Saturday.

The Coalition Against Gendered Violence won the Greatest Role in Building Relationships award for connecting Duke Law students to volunteer and pro bono opportunities with organizations like the Durham Crisis Response Center and North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, bringing in alumni to speak about gun violence, and organizing a career panel to connect students to professionals in the domestic violence and sexual assault fields, Scully said.

The Immigrant Education Project received the award for Greatest Service to the Outside Community for providing law students with a number of opportunities to work with the local immigrant community, including partnering with Durham Public Schools to help parents register their children for magnet schools, giving “Know Your Rights” presentations at community events, assisting immigrants in completing Powers of Attorney, and participating in naturalization clinics to help people fill out forms to apply for U.S. citizenship.