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A $2.3 million gift from the Kathrine Robinson Everett Charitable Trust will benefit Duke Law’s Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, Duke Law School officials announced today.

The gift is the latest to be designated to the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) by the trustees of the Everett Trust; thanks to their generosity, the center’s endowment has grown to more than $5 million and supports a wide range of educational and research programming.

LENS — founded in 1993 by the late Robinson O. Everett ’59, the son of Kathrine Robinson Everett and a beloved professor at Duke Law — is a leading voice in the study of national and global security challenges and the ethical issues faced by military and security officials around the world.

Under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr. (USAF, Ret.), executive director and professor of the practice of law, the center sponsors major conferences to educate military leaders, lawmakers, and scholars and provides analysis and commentary to media and other organizations to increase public understanding of emerging national security issues. It also sponsors courses for Duke Law students and develops research and scholarship. Scott Silliman, professor of the practice of law, worked closely with Everett to establish the center and served as its executive director from 1993 to 2011.

“We are thrilled at the continuing support the Kathrine Robinson Everett Charitable Trust is providing the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security here at the Law School,” said Dean David F. Levi. “It is enabling us to carry forward the dream of her son and Center founder Professor Robinson O. Everett to create a world-class center focused on national security issues and, indeed, global security issues, and the ethical dilemmas they create. This gift enables us to build on the terrific work of the center and allows us to take it to the next level.”

“I am so pleased that the Everett family has chosen to continue its strong support to the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security,” said Dunlap. “This gift will help us to advance our leadership in national and global security scholarship and teaching. The Everett family’s commitment ensures that we can continue to educate students, policymakers, and the public through an integrated approach to these complex issues. It also is a wonderful tribute to my mentor Professor Everett and his devotion to Duke Law School.”

In addition to establishing an endowment to support LENS, the Everett Trust also has established the Reuben Oscar and Robinson O. Everett Scholarship Endowment at Duke Law. After Professor Everett’s death, alumni and friends contributed, along with the Everett Trust, to the establishment of the Robinson O. Everett Professor of Law and the Robinson O. Everett Fellowship at Duke Law School.

“The Everett family has a longstanding relationship with our friends at Duke Law School, solidified by our support of a program that meant the world to my father,” said Greg Everett, a trustee of the Kathrine Robinson Everett Charitable Trust. “We want to ensure that the Law School will always be able to sponsor topical education, conferences and symposia, and practical research related to matters of national security. We are delighted to play an important partnership role in supporting this program.”

The Kathrine Robinson Everett Charitable Trust was established with the proceeds from the estate of Kathrine Everett, who died in 1992 at the age of 98. A highly respected lawyer, Kathrine Everett was one of the first women to graduate from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law and one of North Carolina’s most esteemed attorneys. Her husband, Reuben Oscar Everett, was one of the first five law students at Duke and graduated as a member of the Class of 1906.