Levi is chief U.S. District Court judge in the Eastern District of California. Known as an expert in legal reform and civil procedure, he was introduced at the law school Wednesday morning.

If approved by Duke's board of trustees this month, Levi, 55, will succeed Katharine T. Bartlett on July 1. Bartlett will return to teaching after seven years as dean.

Duke Provost Peter Lange described Levi as "a leader with broad intellectual interests and a thoughtful, academic temperament." Lange said Levi was praised for his judgment, administrative experience and connections within the legal community.

In a news release, Levi said, "Leaving the federal bench is a career choice of some magnitude, one I would not have considered unless I was convinced of the exceptional momentum of the Duke Law School. It is a privilege to join a law school of the first rank that is imbued with a sense of optimism and purpose, within a university that places an emphasis on knowledge in the service of society."

In an interview after he met with the law faculty, Levi said he wanted to help Duke focus its intellectual power on improving legal institutions. "The work should be interesting and first-rate but also important," he said.

Levi, a Harvard alumnus, graduated in 1980 from Stanford Law School, where he was president of the Stanford Law Review. He clerked for Judge Ben C. Duniway of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and then for Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California and became U.S. attorney for the district in 1986. He managed an office of more than 50 lawyers and supervised one of the largest public corruption investigations in California history.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush appointed Levi as a U.S. District Court judge. He became chief judge in 2003.

Levi was selected after an eight-month search that included more than 200 candidates.

His father, the late Edward H. Levi, was appointed U.S. attorney general in 1975 by President Gerald Ford.