Patrick Duggan (JD/MA ’10) has been accepted into the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) highly competitive Honors Program and will join the department’s Environment & Natural Resources Division in the fall of 2010. Duggan will graduate this month with a Master’s of Arts in Environmental Science and Policy from the Nicholas School of the Environment and a Juris Doctor (JD) 91 from the Duke Law School. He was an environmental consultant before coming to law school.

2010 Graduate Patrick Duggan Accepted into DOJ Honors Program

“I came to (graduate) school specifically to study environmental law,” Duggan says. “Being accepted into this program validated my decision to come to here.”

The Honors Program is the only way entry-level attorneys can join the DOJ. According to its website, the department selects its employees based on academic achievement, participation in a journal or moot court competitions, legal aid and clinical experience, summer or part-time legal employment, and other factors — specialized academic studies or academic 91s, work experience, and extracurricular activities — related to the work of the department.

“Duke is small and if you really have a passion for something, you can own it,” says Duggan, who led the Environmental Law Society for two years, served as student liaison to the Energy Subcommittee of Duke’s university-wide Sustainability Committee, and is currently the editor in chief of the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum.

In addition, Duggan has participated in the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic for the past year, gaining experience he believes was critical to his acceptance into the program.

During his time at Duke, Duggan has worked with students and faculty to increase collaborations between the Nicholas School and the Law School.

“The Nicholas School provides incredible scientific knowledge that is needed to make change. The Law School provides the policy means by which to actually make that change. Together, I think that students from the two schools can be very dynamic, and I hope that as I leave there is more of a bond than there was when I came,” he says.

James E. Salzman, Samuel F. Mordecai Professor of Law and Nicholas Institute Professor of Environmental Policy, and Michelle Nowlin, supervising attorney for the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, encouraged Duggan to apply for DOJ’s Honors Program.

“In talking with Patrick about what his career goals were, it seemed that he would be able to gain the most comprehensive experience, best training, and broadest view of the issues in a way that was consistent with his values at a place like the DOJ,” Nowlin says. “Patrick has a curious mind and demonstrates a lot of initiative. He is eager to learn and is quite responsive to feedback and direction, but by the same token, he is not afraid to ask questions and challenge conventional wisdom. I think those attributes will serve him very well as an advocate for the protection of the environment and enforcer of the nation’s environmental laws.”