Judge Everett (center), Balfour Smith (left), and Professor Silliman (right).

Professor Robinson O. Everett, the Center's founder, received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, and he has an LL.M. from Duke University. He has been a member of the faculty of Duke Law School since 1956, and also served as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Military Appeals (now renamed the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces) from 1980 until 1990. For many years, he has been very active in the American Bar Association and North Carolina Bar Association, and has held positions of leadership in both.

Professor Scott L. Silliman, the Center's Executive Director, received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served for 25 years as an Air Force judge advocate, retiring in the grade of colonel in 1993 just prior to joining the Duke Law School faculty and establishing the Center. As the senior attorney for Tactical Air Command during the first Persian Gulf War of 1990-91, and later as Air Combat Command's senior attorney, he has extensive experience in operational and other areas of military law. He is a frequent commentator on national and international television and radio news programs, and is quoted on a regular basis by the world's print media.