The Distinguished Speaker for the Duke Law 2022 Convocation Ceremony is Judge J. Michelle Childs, a member of the Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies class of 2016.

Judge Childs is a judge on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, serving in that role since 2010. In January, she was nominated by President Joe Biden to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and she was one of three judges the president considered this spring to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court.