PUBLISHED:March 23, 2010

Two Duke Law students argue in the U.S. Court of Appeals

Third-year Duke Law students argued two cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit today.

The cases are handled by Duke's Appellate Litigation Clinic, which is directed by James Coleman, the John S. Bradway Professor of the Practice of Law, and Senior Lecturing Fellow Sean Andrussier ’92.

One appeal involves a civil rights case alleging that a state trooper violated the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment right by using excessive force when the trooper shot the plaintiff multiple times during an arrest. That appeal was argued by Christopher Vieira ’10.

The other appeal is a habeas corpus case involving a contention of actual innocence. It was argued by Steven Rawson ‘10. 3Ls David Chiang, Daniel Mandel, Michael Gilles, Brian Kappel, and James McKell also worked on the cases.