Lori K Duke

Biography

Lori K. Duke is a Clinical Professor at the Children's Rights Clinic since June 2008. The Children's Rights Clinic is appointed to represent abused and neglected children involved in the dependency system. Lori and her students represent children from removal until the case is resolved. Students sit first chair at multiple hearings, mediations, bench and/or jury trials, and appeals.

Lori graduated from University of Texas School of Law in 1995 and had been a student at CRC under the supervision of Cynthia Bryant and John Sampson. After law school, Lori was in private practice primarily representing parties in child abuse cases. From 1998-2000, she worked as a staff attorney to Judge Scott McCown. From 2001-2006, Lori continued her private practice representing children and parents on the CPS docket.

In 2007, Lori joined the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI) in Yerevan, Armenia. She monitored rural legal clinics, worked with other non-governmental organizations, planned, organized, and coordinated study trips abroad, taught legal research and writing classes to Armenian lawyers, and collaborated on a comprehensive program to teach Armenian law professors critical thinking and legal writing skills. She also co-edited the Legal Education Reform Index which evaluated the quality of legal education in Armenia. In 2012, she again volunteered for ROLI and trained new Egyptian lawyers on practical skills and professionalism.  

Lori is active in national, state, and local organizations. She has presented at the American Bar Association's Children and the Law Conference and the National Association of Counsel for Children. She is a member of the Education Committee with the Texas Supreme Court's Commission on Children, Youth, and Families and currently on the Education Committee's implementation task force. She served on the state-wide task force to examine the intersection of child abuse/neglect and domestic violence. Locally, she is involved with the Austin Bar Association. Lori was a founding member of CAFA (Court Appointed Family Attorneys) a local bar section whose goal is to improve the quality of legal representation for parents and children. At UT Law, she sits on the LLM committee.

The Austin Bar Association presented Lori with the Regina Rogoff Award for Outstanding Public Sector Service in 2012.