Judge Allyson K. Duncan - Class of 1968

 Allyson Duncan is like a skillful mountain climber looking at the valley below, then other next objective above, and quietly saying, "I can reach that."

     Duncan graduated from Hampton University in the 1970's, then graduated with highest honors from Duke University Law School. While at Duke, she was an Earl Warren Scholar and vice president of the Black Law Student Association.

     After Duncan passed the Bar Examination, she practiced law in North Carolina and then in Washington, D.C. In 1976, she was associate editor for the Lawyers Cooperative Legal Publishing Company. From 1977 to 1978, Duncan served as a law clerk to a judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. After additional study and training, she was admitted to practice before several federal circuit courts of appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court.

     Duncan's career has been varied: She worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1978 to 1986, she was a professor at North Carolina of court.

     In addition to her successful legal career, Duncan has found time to put her knowledge and skills to work on community, professional and women's issues.

     In 1990, Duncan became the first African-American woman appointed as a justice for the North Carolina State Court of Appeals. A year later, she achieved another "first" when she was appointed to the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

Allyson Duncan  was confirmed  as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, becoming the first African-American woman ever to serve in that capacity. The U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination with a vote of 93-0.

Duncan, elated with the outcome, said merely being nominated was a fantastic experience. “It was very exciting and very humbling,” she said. “It was the greatest honor imaginable.”  

Duncan, most recently a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton living in Raleigh, said she loved the idea of returning to the bench and taking on legal questions from an objective point of view. “This will be the pinnacle of a legal career,” she said. “I love the prospect of wrestling with legal issues and having the time to review and analyze them and not be bound to one side — not to have your position predetermined as you do in private practice.”

Her confirmation for the seat on the 4th Circuit wasn’t the only honor — or first —  for Duncan, though. She also became the first African-American president of the North Carolina Bar Association.

Duncan previously served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and later as commissioner of the N.C. Utilities Commission. She was president-elect of the North Carolina Bar Association before taking on the presidency this summer