The estate of Kathrine Everett announced April 28 that it will donate $14 million to the law schools at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
At Duke, the $7 million will be used for special projects and to support the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security.
The center, known as LENS, focuses on the growing field of national security law and analyzes issues in the field from ethical perspectives. Everett's son, Professor of Law Robinson Everett, founded LENS in 1993. The center sponsors and promotes research in national security law topics and conducts conferences and seminars.
Professor of Law Scott Silliman, executive director of LENS, said the money will be used to hire additional staff and recruit visiting lecturers.
"[It will] enlarge the research capabilities of the center... and expand [LENS] both in staff and in scope," he said.
LENS is a privately funded center and receives no financial support from the University. Instead, the center relies on private grants and donations like the Everett pledge. "This type of gift is within the nature of what we are trying to do," Silliman said.
Duke officials have yet to determine how much of the gift will be saved for projects and how much will be allocated to LENS, said Mirinda Kossoff, director of communications for the law school.
For the past several years, LENS has joined with the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security to co-sponsor a national security law update and review conference in Washington.
The deliberations of these conferences have been included in Congressional reports on the topic.
UNC-CH will use its portion of the gift to fund ongoing renovations, improve student scholarship opportunities and promote international initiatives.
Audrey Ward, director of communications for UNC-CH's law school, said the school has not determined the gift's distribution.
The Everett family has long-standing ties to law and public service.
Kathrine Everett, who died in 1992 at age 98, was one of the first women to graduate from UNC-CH's law school, and was the first woman to argue and win a case before the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Robinson Everett served in the Korean War as a Judge Advocate General.
He retired from the Air Force in 1978 as a colonel, and served for 10 years on the U.S. Court of Military Appeals.
He has been a faculty member since 1950, the same year he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
He was 22 years old at the time, making him the youngest faculty member in the University's history.
Colleagues described him as a dedicated, modest faculty member. "I have never heard anyone say anything ill of Robinson Everett," Silliman said. "He is involved in so many things, but he's not the kind of person to harp on it."
Everett could not be reached for comment.
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