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Fuqua's Oxford-Style Debate Showcases Famous Law Figures

Attorney F. Lee Bailey and Judge Kenneth Starr are two of the American debate team members who will take on the British in an Oxford-style debate set for 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. "The Great Debate V," sponsored by Duke Law School and its Program on Complex Dispute Resolution, will be hosted by law school Dean Katharine T. Bartlett. The debate, to be held in Fuqua's Geneen Auditorium, is free and open to the public. The debate will tackle two important issues of judicial procedure that differ between the two countries. The first issue concerns whether a majority verdict by a jury in a criminal trial should be permissible. In the United States, criminal convictions require a unanimous 12-0 verdict. In England, a majority verdict (10-2) is allowed. The second debate takes up the issue of whether a jury's deliberations should remain secret after trial. In the U.S., jurors are free to discuss deliberations once a trial has ended. In England, jurors are prevented by law from ever discussing their deliberations. Debating for the British team are: The Honorable Mr. Justice Richard Tucker, Master Michael McKenzie, Judge Graham Boal, Judge Neil Denison and Judge James Rant. The American team consists of Bailey, Starr, Judge Eugene Sullivan, Judge Stanley Sporkin and attorney Brendan Sullivan. Each debater gets about five minutes to present his arguments. Two debaters from each team will argue each of the two issues. The audience votes immediately after the debate by Oxford Rules: Those voting in favor of the British position leave by the door with the British flag; those voting for the American position leave by the opposite door with the American flag. Before coming to Duke, the Great Debate will be argued in Washington, D.C., at the Georgetown Law Center and, afterward, at the U.S. Embassy in London.

 

Written by Mirinda Kossoff.