Robinson O. Everett
"For so many Duke Law alumni, Judge Everett is Duke Law School. He embodied the qualities of leadership and service in and through the law. He was a model of the citizen-lawyer. His distinguished career as a law professor and judge has been an inspiration to faculty, students and alumni at Duke Law School for over 50 years." — Dean David F. Levi
As a child, Judge Robinson O. Everett wanted to be a detective. Aside from that youthful aspiration, the son of prominent Durham attorneys Kathrine R. Everett and Reuben O. Everett T '06 never had a particular career in mind.
"My parents hadn't worried much about me, and they never really talked to me about work," said Everett, who died on June 12, 2009, at the age of 81. "They were pretty sure I wouldn't be a detective."
It was a friend's suggestion rather than any specific ambition that led Everett to apply to Harvard Law School following his graduation from Harvard University in 1947 at the age of 19. "I graduated magna cum laude and that made me a reasonable candidate," Everett said. "I didn't have any plan, so I went over there." Three years later Everett again graduated magna cum laude, this time from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review.
In 1954, he was proudly sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court Bar along with his parents.
Everett's path to the law may have been uncertain, but the legacy he leaves behind for family members, friends, and colleagues is not. Continue reading
Read Duke Law School's obituary.