Keynote Speaker Bio

A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Professor Coleman's experience includes a judicial clerkship for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, a year in private practice in New York, and fifteen years in private practice in Washington, D.C., the last twelve as a partner in a large law firm. In private practice, he specialized in federal court and administrative litigation; he also represented criminal defendants in capital collateral proceedings. He has had a range of government experience. In 1976, he joined the Legal Services Corporation, where he served for two years as an assistant general counsel.

In 1978, he conducted an investigation of two members of Congress as chief counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. In 1980, he served as a deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Education.

Professor Coleman teaches criminal law, legal ethics, negotiation and mediation, capital punishment, and wrongful convictions. He is an active member of the American Bar Association. He has been chair of the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities (1999-2000) and of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project (2001 - 2006).

At Duke, Professor Coleman has headed a committee that reviewed and recommended changes to the university's policy regarding drug use by athletes, leading to the implementation of stringent penalties for the use of steroids, blood doping and masking agents and he served on the Duke committee that investigated charges against the Duke Lacrosse team.