David F. Levi: A Singular Dean
After serving as dean of Duke Law School for 11 years, ALI President David F. Levi will be stepping down this June.
In “A Singular Dean,” Duke Law reflects on Dean Levi’s accomplishments during his tenure at the university and highlights the ways in which he has helped students prepare for leadership roles in their careers and communities.
An excerpt:
Levi, who will step down on June 30 after 11 years as dean, has been a huge success in leading Duke Law by every traditional measure. He has overseen major expansions of faculty, research, and academic programs, even while navigating the recession’s disruption of the legal economy and legal education. He led the recently concluded Duke Forward fundraising campaign that raised a record $132.4 million over seven years and achieved a threefold increase in student aid. He oversaw an increase in student quality and diversity, developing new initiatives to attract a wide range of talented students to Duke Law. He placed great emphasis on enhancing faculty excellence, reach, and diversity; during his time as dean, for example, the number of women appointed to tenure or tenure-track positions doubled. He found funding for new endowed distinguished chairs, doubling that number, and he supported faculty research interests by funding new centers and supporting academic conferences, research, and publications. And he worked tirelessly to build bridges between the legal academy, the practicing bar, and the judiciary, marshaling the resources of all to better understand and improve the legal profession and the courts, and carving out a singular specialty for Duke Law in the study of judges and the judicial system. Levi even found the time to do some of his own writing and teaching.
Read more about Dean Levi and his work at Duke Law School.
