A Message from Dean Abrams
Every member of our community brings essential talents and unique perspectives that contribute to our culture and to our collective and individual experiences, and every member of our community deserves an environment where they can thrive.
In 1927, Miriam Cox, a Duke Woman’s College graduate and court reporter, was the first woman student admitted to Duke Law School. Decades later, Walter T. Johnson, Jr. ’64 and David Robinson II ’64 were admitted as the Law School’s first Black students. Another decade passed before Duke Law enrolled its first Black women students, Brenda Becton ’74, Karen Bethea-Shields ’74, and Evelyn Cannon ’76. The more than half-century since their admission has seen our entire community — students, faculty, staff, and alumni — become more diverse along many dimensions, not just race but also ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status, disability, and nationality.
Indeed, the Duke Law School of today bears little resemblance to the institution that those pathbreaking students attended. Our students learn to fight for equality, rights, and fair processes and they graduate with a commitment to public service. In their scholarship, our faculty question and critique the inequalities in our legal system and propose reforms to make it fairer and more just. Our clinics and pro bono projects are the source of free, high-quality legal representation in Durham and beyond for people who could not otherwise afford it.
To be the Law School we want to be, we need to hold fast to a commitment to diversity of perspectives. We need to ensure that we are a place where members of our community can fully participate, feel that their dignity and humanity are respected by all, and have confidence that their perspectives and experiences will be valued. This process of embracing difference is not always easy. Difference can be uncomfortable. However, learning from people who possess a different worldview from your own is key in becoming an effective lawyer.
Whether you are a student, faculty or staff member, graduate of Duke Law School, or a prospective member of our community, I invite you all to join me in recognizing and valuing the power that lies in membership in a pluralistic community.
James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke Dean and Professor of Law