Christopher H. Schroeder, the Charles S. Murphy Professor Emeritus of Law and professor
emeritus of public policy, joined the Duke Law faculty in 1979. He retired from teaching
in 2020 and in October 2021 was appointed by President Joe Biden as assistant attorney
general for the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). On his retirement
from that position in July 2023, Schroeder was presented with the Edmund J. Randolph
Award, the department’s highest honor, by Attorney General Merrick Garland in recog
nition of outstanding contributions over his career that included prior terms leading the
OLC and its Office of Legal Policy (OLP). At Duke Law, Schroeder taught Property, as
well as courses on Congress, federal policymaking, environmental law, and cybersecurity,
among others. In 1998, he founded the Program in Public Law, now the Richard A. Horvitz
Program in Constitutional & Public Law, to promote an understanding of public institu
tions, the Constitutional framework in which they function, and the principles and laws
that apply to the work of public officials.