Penn State law professor emeritus to receive Pa. Bar Assoc. business law award

The Pennsylvania Bar Association announced last week that its Business

Law Section would be presenting Louis F. Del Duca, a professor emeritus at Penn State University’s Dickinson School of Law, with the second annual W. Edward Sell Business Lawyer Award in honor of his “extraordinary contribution to the practice of business law” in the commonwealth.

Del Duca, nicknamed “the Duke” by professional colleagues, joined the law faculty at Dickinson in 1956 and is recognized as the longest-serving faculty member in the school’s history.

The internationally recognized scholar in the fields of commercial and comparative law, and leader in what the bar association calls the “internationalization” of American legal education, will accept the award on Nov. 13 during the kick-off ceremony for the two-day Business Law Institute, which will be held at the Continuing Legal Education Conference Center at the Wanamaker Building in downtown Philadelphia.

Del Duca currently serves as president of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law and has previously served as the country’s collaborator to the Rome International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, according to the PBA.

Del Duca, who is considered a leader in the movement among American law schools to increase international educational opportunities, founded and managed Penn State Law’s summer programs in Europe.

The veteran law professor served as editor of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, he is editor in chief of the Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal, and he has been involved in the PBA’s International and Comparative Law Section, the Judicial Administration Committee, the Plain English Committee, the Professionalism Committee and the Statutory Law Committee, among others.

Del Duca obtained degrees at Philadelphia’s Temple University as well as at Harvard Law School and the University of Rome Law School, according to the PBA.

The Business Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association consists of about 1,300 lawyers licensed by the state who support advancing business practice through legal education, legislation and networking and communication within the organization.