PUBLISHED:September 11, 2009

Memorial service to honor Robinson Everett's life at Duke Law

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Duke Law School will gather on Thursday, Sept. 24, to honor the late Robinson O. Everett, a longtime professor and 1959 graduate of Duke Law who passed away June 12.

The memorial event begins at 4 p.m. and is open to the public. It will be held in the Law School’s Star Commons, on the corner of Towerview Road and Science Drive. Parking is available in the Gross Chemistry lot, across from the Law School on Towerview Road. Questions about the event may be directed to alumni_office@law.duke.edu.

Scheduled to speak are Duke Law Dean David F. Levi, Professors Scott Silliman, Madeline Morris, William Reppy, and Clark Havighurst; Judge James Dever, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina and a 1987 Duke Law graduate; and James Markham '07, Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government at UNC-Chapel Hill and a past editor of Duke Law Journal. Light refreshments will be provided following the event.

One of the country’s most prominent and respected authorities on military justice, Everett served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces for 10 years as chief judge. His work as counsel to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in the 1960s helped lead to legislation that modernized the U.S. military court system.

Everett was on the Duke Law faculty for 51 years, teaching courses in military justice, criminal law, sentencing, and criminal procedure. He taught his last class during spring 2009. Throughout his tenure at Duke Law, he was a kind and cheerful presence and a warm, caring mentor to students, many of whom got their first jobs with his help or sought his advice on life and work in the law.

See the Law School’s memorial website for more about Judge Everett’s extraordinary life and accomplishments, and to read tributes submitted by friends and colleagues.