Since 1995 the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) has hosted an annual national security law conference in Durham, N.C. The conference promotes education and discussion of the complex and diverse issues involved in national security, such as the legal and policy implications of counterterrorism operations at home and abroad, the international law of armed conflict, the impact of security issues on international business endeavors, and the ethical issues of the practice of national security law.

The Duke Law Journal’s Administrative Law Symposium strives to produce an annual commentary on each year’s major developments in the field of federal administrative law. The symposium reports and analyzes those developments which are of general significance, presenting in one volume a discussion of current controversial issues which should be of interest both to the infrequent agency practitioner and to the attorney or agency member who desires a cross-agency perspective on those issues.

Ian Haney Lopez, a racial justice scholar and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke to students as part of Duke Law's "Race and the Law" course and speaker series. The course was offered during the 2021 spring semester and taught by Duke Law's Trina Jones, the Jerome M. Culp Professor of Law; Guy-Uriel Charles, the Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professor of Law; and, H. Timothy Lovelace, Jr., the John Hope Franklin Research Scholar and Professor of Law.

Since 1995 the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) has hosted an annual national security law conference in Durham, N.C. The conference promotes education and discussion of the complex and diverse issues involved in national security, such as the legal and policy implications of counterterrorism operations at home and abroad, the international law of armed conflict, the impact of new technology on security issues, and the ethical issues of the practice of national security law.

Ben Finholt, Director, Just Sentencing Project with NC Prisoner Legal Services, summarizes the organization's mission and work to the Wilson Center.

Originally recorded on February 19, 2021.

Jeffrey Sutton, a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, gives a keynote address.

Symposium title: The Future of Chevron Deference

Administrative Law Symposium (2021)

Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, gives the lunch keynote address, followed by a Q & A.

Symposium title: The Future of Chevron Deference

Administrative Law Symposium (2021)

Professor Jack L. Goldsmith of Harvard Law School characterizes Trump’s abuses of power, the rise of populism, and other points raised in his book “After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency,” co-authored with Bob Bauer of NYU Law School.

His discussion was part of the first episode of the “Beyond COVID” series, “The U.S. Presidency: Looking Forward,” co-produced by the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School and the American Law Institute.

Also appearing: David F. Levi, Director of the Bolch Judicial Institute and Levi Family Professor of Law

Historian David Kennedy of Stanford University gives a brief presentation of U.S. presidential history, highlighting some of the major changes to the office in the last 200 years. This history prefaced a discussion about Trump's presidency for the first episode of the “Beyond COVID” series, co-produced by the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School and the American Law Institute.

Also appearing: David F. Levi, Director of the Bolch Judicial Institute and Levi Family Professor of Law

Keynote Address, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky (Dean; University of California, Berkeley Law School)

Originally recorded on October 30, 2020.

Sponsored by the Alaska Law Review and co-sponsored with the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center.

Dr. Ashley Nellis, Senior Research Analyst at the Sentencing Project, discusses her new book, The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences, co-authored with Marc Mauer, Executive Director of the Sentencing Project. They describe their data concerning the growth of the "lifer" population in the U.S., and why we should question this trend as a matter of law and policy. The "lifer" population has continued to grow amidst historically low crime rates and reductions in the overall prison population.

Shortbursts III: Quick Updates on Hot Issues

Topic: Climate Change and National Security

Speaker: Prof. Mark P. Nevitt, Commander, JAGC (Ret.), Class of 1971 Distinguished Military Professor of Leadership & Law, United States Naval Academy

UNC Law’s Academic Dean, Mary-Rose Papandrea, discusses a topic much in the news today: “Whistleblowers and National Security".

Speaker: Prof. Mary-Rose Papandrea, Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of North Carolina School of Law

Luncheon Speech: "The Challenge of China: Lawfare, Technology, and more"

Introduction: Maj. Gen. Charlie Dunlap, USAF (Ret.), LENS Executive Director

Speaker: Mr. Dean Cheng, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center, Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy

Dr. Aurel Sari speaks about the phenomena of “Grey Zone” war where the adversary seeks to exploit ambiguities and uncertainties in the law.

Conference section: Shortbursts II: Quick Updates on Hot Issues
Topic: Grey Zone War

Speaker: Dr. Aurel Sari, Associate Professor of Public International Law, Director of Exeter Centre for International Law (UK)

Brandon Winford discusses his new book, John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights. Wheeler was one of the civil rights movement's most influential leaders. In articulating a bold vision of regional prosperity grounded in full citizenship and economic power for African Americans, this banker, lawyer, and visionary played a leading role in the fight for racial and economic equality throughout North Carolina. Wheeler began his career as a teller at Mechanics and Farmers Bank and rose to become bank president.

Professor Curtis A. Bradley's discusses his recent book, The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Foreign Relations Law, a groundbreaking text in this relatively new field of study. Professor and contributing author Laurence R. Helfer provides introductory remarks.

Co-sponsored by the Goodson Law Library and Office of the Dean.

Molly Land, Professor of Law & Human Rights at UConn Law School discusses the intersection of new technologies and human rights. New technologies have been heralded as vehicles for freedom, allowing activists to organize and document human rights violations. These benefits have been more limited than hoped, and have created new human rights challenges as governments and private companies exploit technology to pursue their own interests. Using the example of online harassment of human rights activists in Guatemala, Prof.

The Hon. Richard Gergel, U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina, speaks on his new book "Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring." The book details the impact of the blinding of Stg. Woodard on the thinking of President Truman and Judge Waring, and shows their influential roles in changing America's civil rights history. A question and answer session, moderated by Bolch Judicial Institute Director David Levi, follows Judge Gergel's presentation.

Professor Rachel Barkow discusses her new book, Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. Rachel Elise Barkow is the Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy and Faculty Director, Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. She was a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission from 2013 until January 2019. In her book, Barkow argues that reform guided by evidence, not politics and emotions, will reduce crime and reverse mass incarceration. Barkow argues for an institutional shift toward data and expertise.

New Zealand Court of Appeal Justice David Collins discusses proposals to expand the United States Supreme Court and the principal arguments against court packing. Justice Collins is a 2018 graduate of Duke Law's Master of Judicial Studies program and is visiting Duke as the Bolch Judicial Institute's Distinguished Judge in Residence.

Co-sponsored by the Bolch Judicial Institute and the Program in Public Law.

The 2019 National Library Week Alumni Author event featured Anders Walker (JD/MA 1998), Lillie Myers Professor of Law at St. Louis University School of Law. In his new book, The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America (2018), he presents a dramatic reexamination of the Jim Crow South from the perspectives of some of the most important American intellectuals, and explores their lasting impact on U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence.

With an introduction by James Coleman Jr.

Sponsored by the Goodson Law Library.

Deborah L. Rhode, the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law at Stanford University, delivers the Brainerd Currie Memorial and Kenan Institute for Ethics Distinguished Lecture, "#MeToo: Why Now? What Next?".

Professor Lawrence A. Zelenak's discusses his , Figuring Out the Tax: Congress, Treasury, and the Design of the Early Modern Income Tax, which traces the history of our income tax system through stories of the remarkable personalities who shaped it.

Professor Richard L. Schmalbeck provides introductory remarks.

Co-sponsored by the Goodson Law Library and Office of the Dean.

Most of us rarely think about how we pay for goods and services. For millions of working families, America's slow and antiquated payment system costs billions through check cashers, pay day lenders, and bank overdraft fees. America's payment system is among the slowest in the world for major economies. Recognizing the need to improve, the Federal Reserve recently requested thoughts on how to upgrade America's payment system to operate in real time.