The 2025 Bolch Prize ceremony will honor former Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani for his dedication to furthering the rule of law in Pakistan. Click here for more information about the speakers at the ceremony.
At an evening ceremony at the Nasher Museum of Art on April 16, the Bolch Judicial Institute of Duke Law School will honor Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the 21st Chief Justice of Pakistan, as the recipient of the 2025 Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law.
The Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law is awarded annually to an individual or organization who has demonstrated extraordinary dedication to the rule of law and advancing the rule of law principles around the world. Throughout his career, Justice Jillani has stood for human rights, religious liberty, and the protection of judicial independence in Pakistan and around the world. This year, the Bolch Judicial Institute recognizes Justice Jillani’s extraordinary work and groundbreaking opinions that advance gender equality, religious liberty, and judicial independence in South Asia and globally.
In 2007, after General Musharraf declared a state of emergency to subvert Supreme Court decisions relating to his reelection, Jillani was among a group of senior judges who refused to take a new oath of loyalty to Musharraf and were relieved of their judicial duties. This ignited the Lawyers’ Movement, in which lawyers throughout Pakistan protested the Musharraf regime’s assault on judicial independence. Jillani was reinstated in 2009 after Musharraf resigned.
On the afternoon of April 16, Justice Jillani will discuss his distinguished career as well as the topics of judicial independence and the rule of law at a lunch event with Judge Paul W. Grimm, the David F. Levi Professor of the Practice of Law and Director of the Bolch Judicial Institute. This event is open to all Duke faculty, staff, and students.
The evening ceremony will begin with a greeting by Dr. Joshua Salaam, Director and Chaplain at Duke University’s Center for Muslim Life; a welcome message from Kerry Abrams, the James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke Dean of Duke Law School and Distinguished Professor of Law; and remarks by Taiyyaba A. Qureshi, founding president of the North Carolina Muslim Bar Association.
Bill Neukom, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the World Justice Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the rule of law around the world, and Justice Adèle Kent, Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, Canada (retired), will deliver additional remarks, and Judge Grimm will present the Bolch Prize to Justice Jillani. Susan Bass Bolch, founder of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law, will provide closing remarks.
More Information on Speakers
Dr. Joshua Salaam is the Director and Chaplain at Duke University’s Center for Muslim Life. He brings decades of leadership within the American Muslim community. A U.S. Air Force veteran and former civil rights advocate, Dr. Salaam has served as an imam, community organizer, and youth mentor. With a Doctorate of Ministry and deep interfaith experience, he fosters spiritual growth, inclusion, and dialogue across campus and beyond.
Taiyyaba A. Qureshi is an Associate Attorney at Helen Tarokic Law PLLC, practicing immigration law with a passion for serving clients affected by human trafficking, domestic violence, and other immigration challenges. As a University of North Carolina law student in 2007, Qureshi, whose family is Pakistani, published a comment in the North Carolina Journal of International Law, “State of Emergency: General Pervez Musharraf’s Executive Assault on Judicial Independence in Pakistan.”
Judge Paul W. Grimm is the David F. Levi Professor of the Practice of Law and Director of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law. He served 25 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, including six years as Chief Magistrate Judge. A nationally recognized expert on civil procedure, evidence, and legal technology, Judge Grimm helped lead the 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and has advanced the rule of law through judicial education and scholarship.
Kerry Abrams is the James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke Dean of the School of Law and Distinguished Professor of Law. A scholar of immigration, citizenship, family, and constitutional law, she is well-known for her research and scholarship on family-based migration, the legal regulation of immigrant families, and the history of immigration law. A former federal judicial clerk and litigator, Dean Abrams exemplifies a deep commitment to legal education, academic leadership, and advancing justice through public service and scholarship.
Bill Neukom is a retired partner of the international law firm K&L Gates, and he is a lecturer at Stanford Law School, where he teaches a seminar in the rule of law. At Stanford Law, he is also a member of the Dean’s Council, having served as its chair from 2012 to 2016. Neukom was previously chief counsel for Microsoft Corporation for nearly 25 years, managing its legal, government affairs, and philanthropic activities. He was president of the American Bar Association from 2007 to 2008 and received the ABA Medal in 2020.
Justice Adèle Kent was appointed to the bench in 1994 and has been a member of several committees of the Court including the Media Relations Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee. In August 2014, Justice Kent was appointed Executive Director of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), retitled Chief Judicial Officer. Prior to her appointment she worked on several NJI courses on judicial ethics, science, and civil law. She also helped design judicial education courses with the judiciary in other countries.
Susan Bass Bolch, along with her husband, Carl Bolch Jr., founded the Bolch Judicial Institute and the Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law in 2018. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in history and philosophy with high honors and departmental honors in 1973 from Barnard College of Columbia University. She also received a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1977, where she was an editor of The American Criminal Law Review.
The event will be recorded. To receive a link to the video when it’s available, subscribe to updates from the Institute. A limited number of seats remain open for the event. If you are interested in attending, please email bolchjudicialinstitute@law.duke.edu.