Diane Prucino

Class Year

1978

Professional Background

I attended law school at U.Va. immediately after graduating from Duke. After law school, I moved to Atlanta and became a labor and employment lawyer with a firm that was then called Kilpatrick, Cody, McClatchy, Rogers, and Regenstein. Today, 34 years and 3 name changes later, I am still a labor and employment lawyer at that firm. I have also served as Hiring Partner, Team Leader, Department Chair, Management Committee member, Executive Committee member, and Managing Partner of the Firm, currently consisting of about 650 lawyers. I have held just about every management role at the firm, although today I am back to being a practicing lawyer.

How has being an English graduate from Duke University help shape your professional success?

I read a ton of literature and wrote many, many papers while at Duke. I also studied 20th Century British Literature at Duke's summer program at Oxford University. In the process of all of that reading and writing, I learned how to read analytically, form my own opinions about a piece of literature, and write well. All three of those skills--analysis, forming opinions, and writing--have served me in good stead as a practicing lawyer. Whether I am writing briefs, memos, e-mails, formal letters, articles, or speeches, I spend approximately 90% of my time at work writing. Crisp, clear writing is so rare, and I appreciate the strong writing instruction I received at Duke and Oxford.