Lawyer by Day, Poet by Night on Track for Tenure at Widener

PR Log (Press Release) – Jan 08, 2008 – Dean Linda L. Ammons announced to the full faculty of the Widener University School of Law that Professor Tonya Evans-Walls will be joining the Harrisburg tenure track faculty as an Assistant Professor of Law effective July 1, 2008. Evans-Walls, currently on leave from her firm, TME Law, first joined the faculty in the fall of 2007 as a Visiting Professor. She elected to participate this year in the rigorous and competitive interview process with four other esteemed candidates to compete for the coveted 2008 tenure-track position.

Since 2003, Evans-Walls has served as managing member of a Philadelphia-based boutique law firm that represents clients in the areas of entertainment law, intellectual property, estate planning, and municipal finance. In 2006, she joined forces with Stephanie Saint-Cyr, Esquire (Of Counsel) to expand the trusts & estates and municipal finance departments. She also served as Adjunct Professor at York College of Pennsylvania, where she taught Music Licensing, Publishing, and Copyright.

"I am very honored and excited about this wonderful opportunity!" remarked Evans-Walls when asked her feelings about transitioning into academia. "I loved the learning process as a student and truly enjoy being on the other side of the lectern and encouraging my students to view well established legal doctrines through a twenty-first century lens." Evans-Walls also believes in illuminating for her students the practical applications of legal theory and the importance of civility and professional responsibility. Evans-Walls will teach first year property, intellectual property, and trusts and estates, as well and seminars in entertainment.

Evans-Walls, who has distinguished herself as an intellectual property and literary law expert, is a published author of an award-winning series of legal reference guides for writers and publishing industry professionals. The series is distributed internationally and was selected by Writer's Digest Book Club® as club selections for its members.
Recently, her book titled Copyright Companion for Writers was named Best Reference Book of 2007 by USA Book News. Additionally Evans-Walls was named a "Rising Star" in the December 2007 issue of Pennsylvania Super Lawyers.

Evans-Walls attended Northwestern University on a full tennis scholarship and received her law degree, cum laude, from Howard University School of Law where she served as the editor-in-chief of the Howard Law Journal. She is Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Sports Entertainment and Art Law Committee and is a nationally recognized speaker who presents to various audiences regularly on publishing law, intellectual property law and estate planning issues.

Visit her websites at http://www.legalwritepublications.com and http://www.tmelaw.net. And her award-winning legal reference website for writers at http://www.literarylawguide.com.