About Madeline
Madeline Morris entered the legal field on a traditional path. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1989 and moved directly into a federal appellate clerkship. The clerkship was with Judge John Minor Wisdom on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a formative year that shaped how she approaches legal reasoning and instruction.
After her time on the bench, Morris gravitated toward scholarship and teaching. By 1995 she had joined the faculty at Duke Law School. Her early years at Duke combined classroom responsibilities with research and public programming. Students describe her courses as rigorous and exacting. Colleagues have noted her preference for careful doctrinal analysis over rhetorical flourish.
Also in 1995, Morris took on a leadership role overseas. She became director of the Duke/Geneva Institute in Transnational Law in Geneva, Switzerland. The institute brought together scholars, practitioners and students to study legal issues that cross borders. Morris oversaw academic programming there and helped shape an agenda that blended comparative law, international institutions and cross-border litigation.
Her career has kept one foot in the academy and another in international legal work. Morris has taught a range of subjects tied to transnational legal systems and comparative institutions. She has led seminars that examine how domestic courts respond to international norms. She has also worked with visiting scholars and helped coordinate exchanges between Duke and institutions abroad. Her administrative duties have included curriculum development and supervising graduate research projects.
Today she remains on the faculty of Duke Law School. Her teaching and writing continue to focus on transnational law and comparative legal institutions. She teaches graduate and upper-level courses, advises students on research, and participates in the school’s international programs. Her current practice centers on scholarship and the instruction of law students at Duke Law School.
