News

Janet Ward Black JD '85 was named the first recipient of the Trailblazer Award for Women in the Law by the North Carolina Bar Association’s Women in the Profession Committee. Janet owns Ward Black Law of Greensboro, one of North Carolina’s largest woman-owned law firms and currently serves as vice chairman of the board of Legal Aid of North Carolina.

She was the first female assistant district attorney in Rowan and Cabarrus Counties and the fourth woman to hold the presidency of the NCBA. Janet received the NCBA's Distinguished Service Award in 2009 and Duke Law School's Charles Murphy Award for Public Service in 2010. She was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2016, the highest civilian honor in the state of North Carolina.

Luke Morgan JD '19 will join the Campbell Law School faculty in August, teaching Civil Procedure. Luke was a judicial law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and started his legal career at the North Carolina Department of Justice. At Duke, he was Senior Notes Editor for the Duke Law Journal and received multiple faculty awards in Constitutional Law and Civil Rights, Advocacy and Legal Writing.

Christian Coyne JD ’16 has joined Whiteman Osterman & Hanna of counsel in the Business, Corporate and Commercial Practice Group of its Albany office. Christian focuses on corporate structuring, equity and debt financing, fund formation, and governance matters for clients including founders and investors in emerging companies. Prior to joining the firm he advised startups and growth-stage businesses in San Francisco and worked at firms O’Melveny & Myers, Hogan Lovells, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Kem Thompson Frost MJS '14, retired Chief Justice of Texas’s Fourteenth Court of Appeals, has received the 2025 Justice Ruby Kless Sondock Award from the Houston Bar Association. The award honors “a woman lawyer or judge for exceptional achievement and leadership in the law.” It is given annually to a nominee who has “demonstrated, by conduct and character, a record of exceptional service as a role model, mentor, and advocate in the legal profession, and a lifelong commitment to professionalism.”

Christopher Hagan JD ’86 has joined Dorsey & Whitney as a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions group in New York and Washington, D.C. Chris brings more than 30 years of experience with private equity, mergers and acquisitions, growth equity financings, and management incentive structuring, as well as general corporate law.

He represents middle and lower-middle market private equity funds and their portfolio companies in buyout transactions, add-on acquisitions, divestitures, and general corporate matters. He has been engaged in more than 400 M&As of private companies by more than 50 fund or portfolio company clients. Chris joins Dorsey from an AM LAW 50 firm, where he was a partner.

Sheri Labovitz JD ’76 was honored by the National Council of Jewish Women-Atlanta Section at its sixth annual “Women Who Dare” luncheon on April 25. Labovitz was honored for her political activism and philanthropy. Sheri is immediate past president and current Advisory Council chair of Second Helpings Atlanta, and sits on several boards. She is a retired commercial real estate attorney and former partner at Alston & Bird and Minkin & Snyder (now Greenberg Traurig). At Alston and Bird, Sheri pioneered the reduced hour partner track. 

Brian Lagesse LLM ’16 has joined the GA Eminent Domain Law Firm. Brian was the lead attorney in a title resolution department representing large financial institutions in complex real estate matters. Since 2020, he has focused on working for maximum compensation exclusively for property owners in eminent domain matters.

Gary Pilnick JD ’89 was elected to the board of directors of Newell Brands, where he will serve as a member of the Audit and Compensation and Human Capital Committees. Gary is chairman and CEO of WK Kellogg Co., which he has led since it spun off from Kellogg Company in 2023.

During his 23 years at Kellogg, he has served as vice chairman, corporate development and chief legal officer. Prior to Kellogg, Gary was Vice President and Chief Counsel at Sara Lee Corporation and Vice President and Chief Corporate Counsel at Specialty Foods Corporation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Consumer Brands Association and the Duke University Law Board.

Judge Robin L. Rosenberg JD/MA '89 was elected to The American Law Institute Council at its annual meeting in May. The Council of the ALI determines projects and activities to be undertaken by the ALI and approves the work as representing the position of the Institute. Judge Rosenberg was appointed in 2014 as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

She chairs the Judicial Conference Advisory Civil Rules Committee and co-created the Civil Discourse and Decisions civics education program. She previously served on the Florida Circuit Court, worked  in-house and in law firms, and began her career at the Department of Justice and as a federal law clerk.

Jenny Wang JD/MA ’19 has joined Williams Mullen’s Intellectual Property Section as a senior associate in its Raleigh office. Jenny is an experienced intellectual property litigator, representing clients in patent litigation disputes across a broad range of technologies before U.S. district courts, the International Trade Commission, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. She also advises clients on how to protect and enforce their proprietary technologies and rights.