News

Morgan Abbott JD ’16 has joined NC Children's as president of the NC Children's Foundation. NC Children’s will be a new children’s health system formed through a partnership between Duke University Health System and UNC Health. It will include the first freestanding children’s hospital in the Carolinas. Morgan has served in Duke’s general counsel office for more than four years. Prior to that, she was an attorney at Robinson Bradshaw. 

Joseph Apatov JD ’11 has joined Hinshaw & Culbertson as a partner in its Consumer Financial Services group. Joe is based in Fort Lauderdale and brings extensive experience leading class action defense teams and handling individual litigation nationwide, particularly those involving consumer protection and privacy statutes. 

Timothy Dill JD/MBA ’21 was confirmed and sworn in as Assistant Secretary of War for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He will advise Pentagon leadership on matters related to military and civilian personnel policies, reserve integration, military community and family policy, and total force manpower. Tim spent 10 years on active duty, first in the 82nd Airborne Division, then as a Green Beret in the 3rd Special Forces Group. During his military career, he was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Mauritania. He practiced national security-related law at a Washington, D.C., law firm before serving as national security adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz. 

Rob Harrington JD '87 received the 2025 Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism award from the North Carolina Judicial Branch in January. The award is given for contributions to professionalism and the highest standards of legal ethics. Rob is a shareholder at Robinson Bradshaw, where he represents clients in complex business disputes and spent a decade as chair of the Litigation Department. In June 2025 Rob was installed as president of the North Carolina Bar Association.

Melanie Katsur JD ’01 has been elected to partner at Gibson Dunn. She is based in Washington, D.C. Melanie focuses complex high-stakes antitrust litigation, representing clients in state and federal courts, including at the trial and appellate levels. 

Kourtney Kinchen JD ’25 is spending the year as a Duke Law Keller Fellow at Public Counsel in Los Angeles on its Community Development Project. Kourtney passed the California Bar exam and was sworn in as an attorney in November. 

Trent McKenna JD ’98 has been appointed president and COO of Comfort Systems USA, a provider of commercial, industrial, and institutional heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical contracting services. He has served in a number of leadership roles since joining the company in 2004, most recently as executive vice president and chief operating officer since January 2022. Prior to that, he practiced complex commercial litigation in the Houston office of Akin Gump. 

Steven Moore JD ’96 has joined the San Francisco office of Vinson & Elkins as a partner and co-head of the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice. Steve brings extensive experience in patent infringement jury trials, appeals, and global litigation management for companies accused of infringement and patent owners harmed by infringement, as well as trade secret misappropriation and related claims. He joins from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where he was a partner.

Chad Pinson JD ’98 has been named chief executive of data services company HaystackID. He brings more than two decades of professional services leadership spanning legal, technology, cybersecurity, and investigations. Most recently he served as CEO of Carr, Riggs & Ingram; prior to that, Chad held executive leadership roles at Stroz Friedberg and practiced as an equity partner at Baker Botts, advising and litigating on privacy, data security, breach response, and e-discovery matters.

Douglas Reynolds JD ’01 has been appointed by Colorado Governor Jared Polis as judge on the La Plata County Court. Doug has been a lawyer in Durango for the past 21 years, most recently as a partner at The Reynolds Law Group focusing primarily on civil and real estate matters. 

Sarah Sheridan JD '15 has been named chair of the Duke Law Alumnae Leadership Council for the 2026 calendar year. Sarah is a member of the litigation group at Moore & Van Allen in Charlotte, where she represents clients in complex commercial matters, including financial services disputes, shareholder derivative litigation, class actions, and other business cases.

Alexander Shiekman JD ’15 has been promoted to partner at New York-based boutique law firm Kleinberg Kaplan in its Corporate Transactional and Finance practice, where he advises companies, entrepreneurs, asset managers, and investors on public and private offerings, convertible and traditional debt offerings, mergers and acquisitions, security token offerings and digital asset transactions, domestic and international shareholder activism, corporate governance and general corporate matters.