“My approach is to challenge and to engage students from day one in law school not merely as students but as first year practicing lawyers. I use legal studies, and the critical thinking, analysis, oral and writing skills required in law school, to prepare students to be highly skilled, ethical, motivated, intellectually curious and confident professionals.”
 
Tonya M. Evans is an expert in intellectual property law, trusts and estates law, and entertainment law. She informs her courses with her vast experience in those areas of law as well as her creative background as a published author and poet, and her competitive, disciplined background as a former professional tennis player.
Professor Evans writes primarily about the impact of new technology and new forms of artistic expression on copyright law. She also explores the intersection of intellectual property and trusts and estates law in her scholarship. Professor Evans is the author of an award-winning series of legal reference guides for writers and publishing industry professionals, which were selected by Writer's Digest Book Club® as club selections for its members. Professor Evans is a nationally recognized speaker who presents to various audiences regularly on publishing law and intellectual property law, in particular.
Professor Evans attended Northwestern University on a four-year tennis scholarship, and thereafter she competed on the women’s professional tennis circuit. She played, most notably, in the qualifying rounds of the US Open, Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, and Lipton in 1993. After retiring from the tennis circuit in 1995, she attended Howard University School of Law on an academic scholarship. During law school, Professor Evans interned with the Honorable Arthur L. Burnett, Sr. in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, with U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah and with the Honorable Theodore A. McKee in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Professor Evans also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal (1997-1998) and Research Assistant to Professor (now Dean) Lisa A. Crooms.
After graduating with honors, Professor Evans clerked for the Honorable Theodore A. McKee in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and thereafter worked at two national firms in Philadelphia until establishing her own firm.