Law professorship named in honor of Robinson Everett

The School of Law announced Thursday that it will establish an endowed professorship in honor of Robinson Everett, who taught at the school for more than five decades.

Everett, Law ’59, was a senior judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and taught military justice, criminal law, sentencing and criminal procedure at Duke. He died in 2009 at age 81.

“The professorship will allow us to recruit and attract faculty of the highest caliber who will carry on the traditions of excellence in teaching and service that professor Everett modeled so capably and generously,” Law School Dean David Levi said in a Duke news release. “I can think of no better way to honor him.”

A total of $2.5 million has been raised for the professorship so far by a total of 72 donors, according to the release. The Kathrine Everett Charitable Trust, named in honor of Everett’s mother, and retired trial lawyer David Noble, Law ’66, made major contributions to the professorship. The Duke Endowment provided matching funds for the gifts, the release noted.

“We are grateful to the many donors and organizations that have helped us make this professorship possible,” Levi said.

Everett, a Durham native, began practicing law at his parents’ firm in 1955. His mother was one of the first women to graduate from the University of North Carolina School of Law, and his father was one of Duke’s earliest law graduates.

Everett’s career highlights included work as counsel to a U.S. Senate subcommittee in the 1960s that led to legislation that modernized the military court system. He also argued in front of the Supreme Court four times as both a plaintiff and lead counsel in a challenge of North Carolina’s 12th congressional district. In 1996, the court ruled that the district had been created unlawfully.

At Duke, Everett created the Duke Center on Law, Ethics and National Security in 1993 to promote teaching and academic research in areas related to national security law.