Study

Gaia Clara Barcilòn, LLM '16

Human Rights for Businesses: A Socially Responsible Path

Gaia Clara Barcilòn is the CEO of EOS Social Responsibility Solutions SA, founder and president of the R.I.S.E. Foundation, and an attorney admitted to the New York State Bar. She holds an LL.B. from City University of London, an LL.M. from Duke University, and a Master of International Law from the Graduate Institute of Geneva. Her work bridges law, sustainability, and human rights, with a particular focus on CSR, ESG, and Business and Human Rights. She advises public and private organizations and businesses on integrating responsible development and innovation into corporate strategies and urban transformation projects.

Isabella Bellera Landa, L '14

Advocacy in International Arbitration

Ms. Bellera Landa is a senior associate at White & Case LLP in the Firm's International Arbitration Practice and Commercial Litigation groups. She represents and advises private companies, foreign sovereigns, and state entities in the management of complex international disputes. Ms. Bellera Landa has experience advising clients in a wide range of industries with a particular focus on energy transition matters and the financial sector. She has represented clients in proceedings before major arbitral forums, including the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), as well as in litigation in US federal district and appellate courts. Ms. Bellera Landa is multilingual in English, Spanish, Italian, and French and is experienced in both civil and common law traditions. Ms. Bellera Landa received her JD from Duke Law School and co-teaches a seminar titled International Investment Law: The Protection and Financialization of Foreign Investments at the school.

Stuart Berkson

Practice and Strategic Development of International Transactions: Investment in Latin America

Mr. Berkson is a partner at DLA Piper in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on international business transactions, with an emphasis on international investments and mergers and acquisitions. He provides counsel for international companies, and on their behalf handles direct investments, acquisitions, dispositions, reorganizations, joint ventures, licensing and distribution arrangements that often encompass multiple jurisdictions. He is well versed in international investment issues and legal and business concerns for investors, including tax. Mr. Berkson has extensive experience in matters involving jurisdictions throughout the Americas, along with South Africa, Israel, Russia, Western Europe, Australia and throughout Asia. He received his law degree in 1980 from Harvard Law School, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He also is a Certified Public Accountant and was awarded the Elijah Watt Sells Gold Medal by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for the highest score in the United States on the May 1977 Uniform Certified Public Accounting examination.

Ridge Blanchard, L '17

Congressional Investigations in the Private Sector

Mr. Blanchard is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where his practice focuses on government investigations and congressional oversight. He regularly provides strategic counsel to major tech companies, financial institutions, and other industry-leading clients facing corporate crises and high-stakes reputational matters. He has deep experience in advising clients in connection with public affairs challenges and regularly prepares CEOs and other senior executives to appear before Congress. Additionally, Ridge counsels clients facing regulatory and litigation-related inquiries brought by state attorneys general. Prior to joining Kirkland, he practiced at another major law firm, which he joined following a clerkship for Judge Lance M. Africk of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Before attending law school, he worked as a legislative aide in Congress and as a legislative assistant for a leading public policy group. He received his JD from Duke Law School.

Brandi Bush Percy

Litigation Management

Ms. Percy is Lead Corporate Counsel at a Fortune 100 insurance company. She has spent her entire legal career as in-house counsel advising corporate clients on all aspects of corporate litigation including litigation strategy, efficiency, cost-effective and preventative measures. She was a member of the in-house legal team for the corporate defendant in a landmark Supreme Court case decided in 2014. In 2021, she published an article in the Association of Corporate Counsel's Docket publication discussing the use of data analytics to predict legal strategy and legal spend. She received her JD from Oklahoma City University School of Law and her LL.M. from Baylor Law School.

Johanna Collins-Wood, L '10

Getting to "Yes" with the SEC

Johanna is the Deputy General Counsel of Bitwise Asset Management ("Bitwise"), and the Chief Compliance Officer of Bitwise Investment Manager, an SEC-registered investment adviser and CFTC-registered commodity pool operator. Prior to working in-house for Bitwise, Johanna served as outside counsel to Bitwise and other digital asset and cryptocurrency companies as a senior associate at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati, LP. Johanna started her career as a capital markets associate in the London office of Davis Polk & Wardwell, LLP, where she executed US and European IPOs, including an IPO that won the IFLR's European Equity Deal of the Year in 2017. Johanna graduated from Duke University with her B.A. in religion and from Duke Law with her J.D. and an LL.M. in international and comparative law. She currently serves on the Duke Law Alumni Association Board of Directors and previously served on the DukeNY Alumni Board.

Jason Cowley

Prosecutorial Ethics

Mr. Cowley is a partner with McGuireWoods, where he is a member of the firm's Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation departments. He joined the firm after serving as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York since 2011, where he held roles including Co-Chief of the Office's Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and Chief of the Office's Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit. Mr. Cowley has prosecuted a number of individuals and entities for a wide array of white-collar offenses including securities fraud, money laundering, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA), tax evasion and related violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Prior to joining the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Cowley served for four years in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. As a prosecutor, he has tried over a dozen federal criminal jury trials.

Collin Cox, L '01

Hearings Practice

Mr. Cox is the Co-Partner in Charge of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Houston office, where he leads the firm's litigation practice and focuses on representing plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes commercial cases. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers, Mr. Cox has extensive experience in the energy and financial services sectors. He has also been a lead trial lawyer in computer software trade secrets cases, fraud cases involving the Madoff bankruptcy, and antitrust actions. Mr. Cox received his J.D. from Duke Law School in 2001 and clerked for the Hon. Anthony J. Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Professor James D. Cox, Brainerd Currie Professor of Law

Basics of Accounting

Professor James Cox joined the faculty of Duke Law School in 1979, where he specializes in the areas of corporate and securities law. He has authored texts including Financial Information, Accounting and the Law; Cox and Hazen on Corporations; and Securities Regulations Cases and Materials (with Hillman & Langevoort). Professor Cox has also published extensively in the areas of market regulation and corporate governance as well as having testified before the U.S. House and Senate on insider trading, class actions, and market reform issues.

Kelly Margolis Dagger

Deposition Practice

Ms. Dagger is an attorney with Ellis & Winters in Raleigh, where her practice focuses on business litigation, employment litigation, and criminal defense. She regularly appears in federal district court, the North Carolina Business Court and other state trial courts, both criminal and civil, and represents clients on appeal in both state and federal court. She holds a JD from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.

Jeremy Dresner, T '00, L '06

Congressional Investigations in the Private Sector

Mr. Dresner is a government, regulatory & internal investigations partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Jeremy's practice focuses on government and internal investigations, regulatory counseling and crisis management assistance. He regularly counsels major financial institutions, market-leading companies and senior executives facing high-stakes reputational matters, frequently in connection with enforcement proceedings, congressional investigations and actions with significant collateral consequences. A trusted counselor to some of the world's highest-profile companies, he provides investigations-related guidance, regulatory advice and strategic counseling to a broad range of companies and senior executives confronting criminal, civil and congressional matters. He regularly advises companies facing public affairs challenges at the intersection of law and policy and prepares CEOs and other senior executives to testify before Congress. He received his JD from Duke Law School.

Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF (Ret.)

Legal and Policy Aspects of U.S. Civil-Military Relations

Professor Dunlap joined the Duke Law faculty in July 2010, after serving as Deputy Judge Advocate General of the United States Air Force. His teaching and scholarly writing focus on national security, international law, civil-military relations, cyberwar, and military justice.

Miguel Eaton, L '06

Litigation Strategy in the Corporate Context

Mr. Eaton is a partner with Jones Day in Washington, DC, where he co-chairs the firm's employee benefits and executive compensation group. His practice focuses on defending companies against class actions alleging breach of fiduciary duty regarding the employee benefit plans they sponsor, litigating executive compensation disputes, and defending clients against investigations by the Department of Labor. After being a two-sport athlete (basketball and boxing) at the U.S. Naval Academy, he served as a U.S. Marine before receiving his J.D. from Duke Law School in 2006.

Lily Farel, L '06

Deposition Practice

Ms. Farel is the Assistant General Counsel, Legal Affairs at SAS Institute in Cary. Prior to her current position, she was a Trial Attorney in the Office of the General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission, where she represented the Commission in litigation matters before federal district courts and other tribunals. She previously served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the US Department of Justice, which she joined through the honors program, and defended the United States against challenges to the constitutionality of government programs such as the No-Fly list, certain economic sanctions imposed by the Departments of State and Treasury, and the Controlled Substances Act. Ms. Farel received her JD from Duke Law School in 2006.

Adam Garmezy, L '14

Equity Investments & Professional Sports

Adam Garmezy is a corporate partner in the Houston and New York offices of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on strategic and financial transactions for public and private companies and private equity sponsors, including mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, private equity transactions, sales processes, venture capital investments, capital raises, carve-out divestitures, SPAC transactions and joint ventures, as well as corporate restructurings and workouts. He has extensive experience in a variety of industries, including energy (conventional and alternative), infrastructure, professional sports, food ingredients, manufacturing, real estate, aerospace, financial assets and software, hardware and technology. He has advised clients in connection with investments in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NWSL, NASCAR, Formula One, International Football and other professional and emerging leagues. Adam received his JD from Duke Law School in 2014.

Brody Greenwald, T '01

Advocacy in International Arbitration

Mr. Greenwald is a partner in White & Case's Los Angeles office. His practice is centered on assisting with strategic corporate decisions and resolving complex disputes through international arbitration, mediation, and litigation. He represents clients in commercial, construction, and investment arbitrations across critical sectors such as technology, energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, financial services, and sports. He also advises on drafting arbitration agreements and structuring investments. Publications like Who's Lexology, The Legal 500, Law360, and Lawdragon recognize Mr. Greenwald as a leading practitioner. He is a founding member of California Arbitration (CalArb) and serves in key positions as CalArb's second vice president and as a member of its Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Mr. Greenwald holds a BA from Duke University and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.

Chris Hart, L '05

Litigation Strategy in the Corporate Context

Mr. Hart is a partner with Foley Hoag LLP in Boston, MA, where he co-chairs the firm's Privacy & Data Security practice. Mr. Hart is an experienced civil litigator and human rights lawyer with a focus on cybersecurity and global data protection. He counsels clients—ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies—on data privacy and cybersecurity compliance, incident response, government investigations, and litigation stemming from an organization's data management and governance practices. As a civil litigator, Chris has successfully represented clients in products liability, complex tort, and class action matters. Mr. Hart received is B.A. from Harvard in 2000, his M.A. from St. John's College (Annapolis) in 2002 and his J.D. from Duke Law School in 2005.

Kirk Jensen, L '00

A Brave New Economic World: Financial Services Law in an Era of Uncertainty

Kirk Jensen is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. and its subsidiary First Interstate Bank, a large regional bank headquartered in Billings, MT. Prior to joining First Interstate, Mr. Jensen was a founding partner of the law firm BuckleySandler LLP in Washington, D.C., where he advised financial institutions on a variety of regulatory compliance matters and represented financial institutions in federal and state government enforcement actions and in high-stakes litigation. He is a fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, a member of the Conference on Consumer Finance Law, and has held various leadership positions in the American Bar Association's Consumer Financial Services Committee and Litigation Section. In 2018, he was recognized with the Global Counsel Award for Financial Services-Regulatory by the Association of Corporate Counsel and Lexology. Mr. Jensen has been a frequent speaker on financial services legal topics and has published numerous articles on financial services issues in both scholarly journals and professional publications.

Alexandra Johnson, T '99

Basics for the Finance Lawyer

Alexandra Johnson is a partner in the New York office of Milbank on the Digital Infrastructure Team and the Practice Group Leader of the firm's Transportation and Space Group. Ms. Johnson regularly represents underwriters, lenders, private credit institutions, sponsors, issuers, borrowers, credit insurers and equity and debt investors. Her practice focuses on transportation assets, including aviation, and digital infrastructure and other esoteric assets across a variety of international financial and corporate transactions, including asset-backed securitizations (ABS) and securitizations, CLOs, acquisition financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, secured lending, structured lending and corporate lending. Ms. Johnson has worked on some of the most complex and innovative financings, including many that have been recognized by industry publications as “Deals of the Year.” Ms. Johnson was named “Aviation Lawyer of the Year” at the 2025 and 2023 Euromoney Women in Business Law Americas Awards, which honors leading women practitioners for professional accomplishments as well as advocacy and influence within each field. Ms. Johnson is recognized as a leading lawyer nationwide for Transportation: Aviation: Finance in Chambers USA rankings guide and she is recognized as a Next Generation Partner for Aviation and Air Travel: Finance by Legal 500 USA. Ms. Johnson is also featured as a Highly Regarded lawyer for aviation in IFLR1000's 2025 rankings. Frequently invited to speak at ABS and industry conferences, she recently moderated a panel at SCI's Annual Esoteric ABS Seminar 2025. Ms. Johnson has been a Senior Lecturing Fellow at the Duke University School of Law where she currently teaches transaction and contract drafting and principals of finance.

Dan Katz, L '83

Deposition Practice and Strategy

Mr. Katz is Senior Counsel at Williams & Connolly in Washington, DC, and an experienced litigator who has tried cases all over the country, in state and federal courts, before both judges and juries, as well as numerous arbitrations and administrative proceedings. He has practiced in a diverse array of fields, representing both corporate and individual clients in cases involving cybersecurity, class actions, criminal, False Claims Act, financial services, franchise, automotive, employment, real estate, construction, healthcare, RICO, securities, and antitrust law. He received his law degree from Duke in 1983.

Jana Kovich, L '15

Excel for Lawyers

Ms. Kovich is a partner with Lathan & Watkins, practicing in the firm's Chicago office, where she advises life sciences and technology startups and venture capital investors on a full range of transactional and operational maters across the company lifecycle. She partners with founders, management, and investors to develop a sophisticated understanding of their long-term business objectives. Ms. Kovich also actively contributes to Latham's recruiting, mentoring, diversity, and training and development programs, and is a former leader of the Chicago Women's Lawyers Group. She is an auxiliary board member of the Center for Conflict Resolution Chicago, a not-for-profit helping individuals, communities, courts, and other institutions resolve conflict through mediation. She maintains an active pro bono practice, including general corporate governance work on behalf of A Better Chicago, a venture philanthropy that invests in the nonprofits helping Chicago children escape poverty. She holds a JD/LLM in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law.

Sasha Leonhardt, L '10

A Brave New Economic World: Financial Services Law in an Era of Uncertainty

Sasha Leonhardt is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, where he represents financial services clients in enforcement, litigation, and regulatory matters, including government investigations before agencies such as the United States Department of Justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and state regulators. He advises on compliance with key consumer finance laws, as well as privacy and data security issues. Mr. Leonhardt is also a frequent author and speaker on consumer financial services, data privacy, and regulatory trends with over fifty published articles, and maintains an active pro bono practice. He has taught at Duke University School of Law, American University Washington College of Law, and served as a Professorial Lecturer in law at George Washington University Law School. Prior to joining Orrick, Mr. Leonhardt was a partner at Buckley LLP. He is accredited as a Privacy Law Specialist and holds multiple privacy certifications.

Gray McCalley, L '79

In-House Practice

Mr. McCalley is General Counsel to Nexus Circular, an advanced recycler of hard to recycle plastics. Before joining Nexus, he was with the Taylor English law firm where he co-led the firm's fractional general counsel practice. Prior to joining Taylor English, Mr. McCalley was Vice President and General Counsel of Printpack Inc., a family-owned, billion dollar manufacturer of flexible food and medical packaging. He worked for over 15 years in the domestic and international operations of the Coca-Cola System in a variety of positions, including as General Counsel Europe (based in London) for Coca-Cola Enterprises. Mr. McCalley also served as a Foreign Service Officer for the US Department of State and practiced as an associate with Alston & Bird in Atlanta. He received his J.D. from Duke Law School in 1979. He received his B.A. from the University of South Carolina, and was a Fulbright Scholar before attending Duke.

Valecia McDowell, T '95, L '98

Internal Investigations

Ms. McDowell co-heads the White Collar, Regulatory Defense and Investigations practice of Moore & Van Allen and is Head of Civil Rights & Racial Equity Assessments at the firm. She has extensive experience conducting internal investigations for publicly traded, privately held, and non-profit institutions in the United States and elsewhere around the world.  She also possesses significant trial, arbitration, and regulatory defense experience in complex, high-stakes cases, particularly in the financial services, securities, manufacturing, telecommunications, and health care industries. She received her B.A. from Duke University in 1995, and her J.D. from Duke Law School in 1998.

Bryan McGann, LLMLE '15

Counseling & Creating a New Entity

Bryan McGann is a Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Start-Up Ventures Clinic, and Director of the dual degree Program in Law and Entrepreneurship at Duke Law School. Prior to joining the Duke Law faculty in 2016, McGann had a broad career as a lawyer, entrepreneur, and commercial banker. He is of-counsel to the Smith Anderson firm in Raleigh, and an entrepreneur in residence at the University of North Carolina. McGann is the inventor and founder of the Pill Pockets® brand pet treats, the world's leading medicine delivery aid for animals. After building and commercializing the brand, McGann's company was acquired by Mars, Incorporated and today the Pill Pockets® brand is sold across the United States and around the world under various Mars' divisions. He also co-owns Sundial Homes, a general contracting firm building lakefront, residential property, and McGann has been granted a U.S. patent on a medical brace to aid in the rehabilitation and recovery of orthopedic surgical patients. Prior to his practice of law, McGann was vice president of a regional commercial bank, and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Banking. He received his JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law, and his LLM in Law and Entrepreneurship from Duke University.

Jose Carlos Meirelles

Practice and Strategic Development of International Transactions: Investment in Latin America

José Carlos J. S. Meirelles has been a partner at Pinheiro Neto Advogados since 1996, having worked at the firm since 1984. His practice focuses primarily on project finance, structured financing, capital markets, privatizations, investment funds, mergers and acquisitions, public-private partnerships (PPPs), receivables securitization, banking law, and corporate law. He currently serves on the Training and Development Committee and was a partner member of the Social Responsibility Committee for 13 years. He holds a law degree from the University of São Paulo (1986) and an LL.M. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1989), where he was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008. He is also a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke University School of Law. In 1989, Meirelles worked as a foreign associate at McDermott, Will & Emery in Chicago. He has authored numerous articles in both national and international books and journals, frequently participating as a speaker and attendee at seminars, workshops, and conferences related to his areas of expertise. Since 2012, at the invitation of the African Development Bank (AfDB), he has contributed to several projects across Africa—including Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and South Africa—delivering lectures on public-private partnerships and providing legal support to governments on infrastructure contracts. Meirelles is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), International Law Section, and is recommended by Chambers and Partners and Latin Lawyer. In 2019, he was nominated or the Chambers and Partners Latin America Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award. He is fluent in Portuguese and English.

Allen Nelson, T '86, L '89

In-House Practice

Allen is a Member of Clark Hill PLC in Atlanta. Clark Hill is a roughly 800-lawyer law firm with 27 offices in the United States as well as offices in Mexico City, Mexico, and Dublin, Ireland. Allen serves as the Chair of the firm’s fractional General Counsel practice. He started that business model while at his prior firm in Atlanta. He has served as fractional General Counsel to companies ranging in experience from rank start-ups to fully-mature companies. For eleven years prior to returning to private practice, Allen was Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Administrative Officer for Crawford & Company (NYSE: CRD.A and CRD.B), the world's largest independent provider of claims management solutions to the risk management and insurance industry, as well as self-insured entities. In those capacities, he handled all legal matters for the company, and directed the firm's Quality and Compliance, Corporate Communications, Corporate Real Estate, Ethics and Compliance, and Internal Audit functions. He previously served as chief compliance counsel for BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) and practiced with Atlanta-based firms Hawkins & Parnell, as well as Troutman, Sanders, Lockerman & Ashmore (now Troutman Pepper). Allen received his B.A. from Duke University in 1986, and his J.D. from Duke Law in 1989. He is also the parent of a 2019 Duke graduate.

Peggy Nicholson

Lawyering for Systemic Change

Peggy Nicholson joined the Duke Law faculty in 2020 as a lecturing fellow and supervising attorney in the Children's Law Clinic. In this capacity, she works with law students to represent children and their families in special education, school discipline, and public benefits cases. Before joining Duke Law, Nicholson served as director of the Youth Justice Project of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, where she worked with directly impacted youth, parents, and communities to advocate for legal and policy solutions to North Carolina's school-to-prison pipeline. She earlier practiced public interest law at Legal Aid of North Carolina, where she provided legal advice and representation in education cases to hundreds of low-income students and families across the state. Nicholson has represented children and their families in administrative hearings and state and federal court. She has also provided continuing education for attorneys, judges, social workers, and other professionals on a variety of education matters including special education, school discipline, and racial equity. Nicholson received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Stephanie "Stevie" Pearl, G '15, L '15

Overview of Merger & Acquisition and Enforcement

Stevie is Of Counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she is a member of the firm's Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. Stevie previously served as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, Transportation, Energy and Agriculture section, where she represented the government in its successful bid to block JetBlue's acquisition of Spirit Airlines. Prior to her firm and government work, Stevie served as a law clerk on the Third Circuit. Stevie is a Vice Chair of the ABA Diverse Perspectives Committee and received an Outstanding Performance Award from the ABA in Spring 2023. She received her JD from Duke Law School and a Masters in History from Duke Graduate School.

Shanna Rifkin, L '17

Federal Sentencing: A Primer and a Case Study in Compassionate Release

Shanna Rifkin is General Counsel of FAMM. Prior to this role, she served as Deputy General Counsel for nearly four years. She brings to this position her experience as both a litigator and public policy expert dedicated to reforming the criminal justice system. Shanna directs the Federal Compassionate Release Clearinghouse, oversees FAMM's Supreme Court practice, and advocates for reform of federal sentencing and corrections law and policy before the United States Sentencing Commission, Congress, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to her position with FAMM, she worked at Northwestern Law School's Children and Family Justice Center to win clemency on behalf of incarcerated youth in Illinois. She was also a litigation associate with Jenner & Block, where she took on an array of pro bono criminal defense matters at both the trial court and appellate court, and clerked on the Western District of New York and the First Circuit Court of Appeals. She earned her JD from Duke Law in 2017.

Frank Schall

Internal Investigations

Frank Schall is an accomplished attorney with extensive experience conducting internal investigations and defending clients in white-collar matters both in the U.S. and internationally. He advises on regulatory and civil investigative demands involving agencies such as the DOJ, CFTC, and U.S. Attorney's offices, with a focus on issues including FCPA and FCA violations, financial crimes, public corruption, and market manipulation. Frank also consults on FCPA and CFIUS concerns in mergers and acquisitions. His international background includes managing regulatory inquiries across Asia while at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, and advising clients in Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, and South Africa. He has defended individuals in state and federal criminal trials and appeals, and previously served as a sworn district attorney. His clients range from individuals and local businesses to Fortune 100 companies and global financial institutions. Frank earned his JD from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2009.

Laura Scott T '93

Introduction to Research for Public Interest Practice

Ms. Scott is a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law, where she teaches introductory and advanced legal research courses. She received her undergraduate degree in history from Duke University and her J.D. from New York University School of Law. After graduating from law school, she practiced law in the litigation and bankruptcy departments of Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, Massachusetts. She later received her M.S.L.S. from Simmons College and worked as Choate's reference librarian for five years. She joined Duke Law as a reference librarian in August 2005. Ms. Scott is a member of the Massachusetts bar, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the Southeastern Association of Law Libraries.

Will Sowers, L '19

Drafting, Negotiating, and Arguing Jury Instructions

Will Sowers is an attorney at trial boutique Wheeler, Trigg, O'Donnell in Denver, Colorado. He focuses his practice on complex litigation and appeals. He has represented clients in matters in both state and federal courts, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has served as appellate monitoring counsel at trial and has significant experience advising clients on properly preserving issues throughout litigation, including during post-trial briefing. In trial courts, Will is often brought in to lead the drafting of critical motions in complex matters. After graduating from Duke Law, he clerked for the Hon. Ed Carnes on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Shane Stansbury, T '95

Prosecutorial Ethics

Mr. Stansbury a Professor of the Practice of Law at Duke Law School and the Robinson Everett Distinguished Fellow in the Center for Law, Ethics, and National Security. Previously, he served almost a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he focused on national security matters and served in several leadership capacities. He represented the United States in numerous high-profile matters involving terrorism, cybercrime, money laundering, export violations, public corruption, international narcotics trafficking, and other violations of federal law. Before becoming a prosecutor, Prof. Stansbury worked in the international arbitration and litigation group of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in New York City. He received his A.B. from Duke and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.

Paul Sun, L '89

Deposition Practice

Mr. Sun is an attorney with Ellis & Winters in Raleigh, NC. His practice focuses primarily on business litigation and appeals. He has experience in the areas of trade secrets and unfair competition, business and health care fraud (civil and criminal), employment, consumer claims, premises and product liability, and contract disputes. He received his J.D. from Duke Law in 1989.

Thomas Telfer, LLM '92

Mindfulness and the Legal Profession

Dr. Telfer is a Professor of Law at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, where his research and teaching interests include bankruptcy law, commercial law, contracts, legal history, and mindfulness. Prior to joining Western's faculty in 2022, he taught at the University of Auckland for eight years. He was admitted in 2023 as a member of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law, composed of more than a hundred specially-selected scholars from throughout the world, focused on the global exchange of ideas. He received his LLM from Duke Law in 1992.

Jeff Tignor, L '99

Crossing the Vast Wasteland - An Exploration of the History & Future of Media Regulation at the FCC

Jeffrey H. Tignor is Special Counsel in the Broadband Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission, focusing on rules and regulations affecting wireless broadband providers. Mr. Tignor has also been an associate and member of the Hiring Committee at a large law firm, a research fellow at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, a fellow at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy, and an elected official in Washington, DC. Mr. Tignor is a member of Washington, DC's Police Complaints Board, taking an active role in the operation of Washington DC's Office of Police Complaints (OPC) where he reviews OPC's Executive Director's determinations regarding the dismissal of citizen complaints, and makes recommendations to the Mayor, the Council of the District of Columbia, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department regarding changes in policy that may decrease the level of police misconduct in Washington, DC. Mr. Tignor graduated from Harvard with an AB in Government cum laude in 1996 and from the Duke University School of Law in 1999. 

Amelia Thorn, L '10

Trauma-Informed Lawyering

Professor Thorn serves as assistant director at the Bolch Judicial Institute and senior lecturing fellow at the Duke University School of Law. She designs educational programming for state and federal judges and serves as the articles editor for Judicature, the Institute's scholarly journal about the administration of justice. Professor Thorn also leads the Institute's trauma-informed courts project, lecturing nationally and internationally on how court personnel can improve their systems. She served as the principal investigator for one of the first court observation studies examining the use of a wide range of trauma-informed practices and how those practices relate to youth outcomes. She graduated magna cum laude from Duke Law and received her Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University with university distinction and departmental honors. She clerked for Justice Don R. Willett of the Texas Supreme Court (now of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit) as well as for Judge Harry T. Edwards of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before going on to private practice in Washington, D.C.

Raphael Winick, L '92

Media & Internet Platforms, IP Licenses and Changing Technologies

Mr. Winick is Assistant General Counsel for The Walt Disney Company in California. He has been closely involved with legal issues related to the Internet, new technologies, media and artificial intelligence throughout his career, including other prior in-house roles in at ESPN and Comedy Central in New York, and litigating several landmark cases while in private practice. In addition to working in the United States, he was admitted in New Zealand as a Solicitor and Barrister, where he handled IP issues and transactions for local startups and multinational companies. He previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School, and has published several law review articles regarding the intersection of law and technology. He received his JD from Duke Law in 1992.

Julie Youngman, T '87, G '94, L '94

Perspectives and Foundations of Justice

Ms. Youngman is a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, where she focuses on litigation in state and federal courts. Her cases involve protecting wetlands, water, and coastal resources, and promoting environmental justice. Her career has spanned military service, private practice, and teaching law at Washington & Lee University, where among other things she directed the university's interdisciplinary program in Law, Justice, and Society. She holds a BS, MA from the School of the Environment, and JD from Duke University.