Duke Law School Dean Kerry Abrams will step down from her position next summer, the school announced Tuesday.
Abrams’ decision will close out what will be a nine-year tenure that expanded the school’s public interest law programs and clinical offerings, but was recently challenged by scrutiny from the Department of Justice over the school’s admissions practices. She is stepping down a year early, having been previously appointed to a second five-year term through June 2028.
According to the announcement, Abrams, formally the James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke dean of the School of Law and professor of law, informed Provost Alec Gallimore in June that the 2026-27 academic year would be her final as dean. The decision came roughly two months before the Justice Department announced it had found the school to have intentionally discriminated against white and Asian students in its admissions practices…