PUBLISHED:April 28, 2022

Summer Institute on Law and Policy enrolls students for 10th year

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The program serves as a pipeline for undergraduates and young professionals considering law school

Professor Neil Siegel Professor Neil Siegel

Duke Law’s Summer Institute on Law and Policy is now enrolling students for two sessions held online this July. The program is designed for undergraduates and working professionals who are considering law school, with introductory courses taught by Duke Law faculty.

Formerly held in-person in Washington, D.C., the institute moved to an online format due to pandemic restrictions in 2020 and ultimately became available to many more students.

“As the pandemic mercifully improves, the institute will remain online so that our courses and special events remain accessible to students around the country — and the world — who are unable to be in Washington, D.C., for the summer,” said Neil Siegel, the David W. Ichel Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Duke and the institute’s director.

Siegel, whose research and teaching fall primarily in the areas of U.S. constitutional law, constitutional politics, and constitutional theory, has worked on several U.S. Supreme Court nominations in the U.S. Senate, most recently serving as special counsel during the confirmation hearings for Associate Justice-designate Ketanji Brown Jackson. A former law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he testified last year before the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. 

At the institute, Siegel will teach courses introducing students to U.S. constitutional law and to legal reasoning. Professor Doriane Coleman, who specializes in teaching and scholarship related to law, culture, women, children, and medicine, will teach a course on succeeding in law school that is designed for both prospective students and those who are starting in the fall.

“I loved the Summer Institute,” said Duke undergraduate student Satya Khurana, who participated in the online program. “I learned more about law school and all that it offers in four weeks than I have in my entire college career. The classes were informative and thought-provoking. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

This summer marks the program’s 10th year, and while it’s seen some changes, the mission has remained the same.

“I am thrilled that, for a decade now, the institute has been helping students decide whether to go to law school and preparing them to excel during their first year if they do,” Siegel said.

Registration for the Duke Law D.C. Summer Institute on Law and Policy is now open at the institute’s web site. Current Duke undergraduates can receive a full-tuition scholarship, funded by the Provost’s office, for up to two classes in the Institute, available on a first-enrolled, first-served basis.