Nationally known lawyer, Supreme Court expert selected as Evergreen?s Daniel J. Evans Chair

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Peter Irons, a nationally known authority on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional law and litigation will teach at The Evergreen State College during fall quarter as the Daniel J. Evans Chair in Liberal Arts.

Professor Irons, who was the keynote speaker for Evergreen’s 2004 Brown v. Board of Education 50th anniversary commemoration, will teach in the academic program Culture and the Public Sphere: Studies in Literature and Law.

Irons helped the college’s commemoration of the landmark case earn national distinction as one of the most comprehensive.

An author or editor of more than a dozen books, Irons has received the American Bar Association’s top honor - the Silver Gavel Award - five times.

Irons’ teaching career has included positions at Boston College Law School, the University of Massachusetts, and most recently at the University of California at San Diego, where he taught for 23 years, and served as Director of the Earl Warren Bill of Rights Project before retiring in 2005. He has also held several visiting faculty positions, including Visiting Professor of Human Rights at Rutgers University.

Irons earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was senior editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

For a time, he worked at the law firm that defended Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers case. Professor Irons also has an extensive record of pro bono litigation, including the 1982 reopening of the World War II internment cases.

Irons will speak at Evergreen’s All Student Convocation Friday Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. at the college’s Longhouse Building, and will be on campus through December.

The Daniel J. Evans Chair in Liberal Arts honors and pays tribute to former Washington Governor, U.S. Senator and the college’s second president, Daniel J. Evans. The program enriches academic programs and intensively supports entry level courses.