RALEIGH — Campbell Law School Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced Adriel Parks Mason ‘23 will serve as the inaugural fellow for the new Richardson Family Education Equity Clinic.
Mason joins Professor Lisa Lukasik, who is director of the clinic that will launch in January 2024. The clinic offers free legal advice or representation to low-income families seeking to protect and/or restore their children’s educational rights. Most of the clinic’s cases involve special-education or school discipline.
“We had a huge number of phenomenal applicants; the depth of talent and passion for this work, especially among our alumni, is incredible. Dean Leonard ultimately identified the top candidate,” Lukasik said. “Adriel brings considerable experience. She worked as a paralegal for four years before law school. She has already represented students with disabilities who faced school exclusion pro bono. She is brilliant, compassionate, kind and funny. I am so grateful she is here.”
In addition to working on the Education Law Project, the Client-Counseling Pro Bono Service Project and the Veterans Pro Bono Project, Mason served as a Stubbs Bankruptcy Fellow and was involved in Women in Law, the Black Law Student Association (BLSA) and the Campbell Law Connections Mentorship Program while in law school.
She worked as a judicial extern for Judge Joe L. Webster in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in Durham.
Prior to joining Campbell Law, Mason worked as a senior paralegal for the Family First Firm: Medicaid and Elder Law attorneys in Orlando, Florida, and as a legal assistant then paralegal for the Alvarez Law Firm in Winter Park, Florida.
Mason is a 2016 graduate of Central Florida University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science.
“Excellence is my standard and I take pride in my work because it is a reflection of my character and work ethic,” Mason writes on her LinkedIn profile. “I aim for everything I touch and everyone I encounter to experience the best version of me. It’s important to me that people feel seen, heard and supported. I believe we owe each other respect and the best of ourselves. I am multi-passionate and actively use this to my advantage. I embrace my many passions, focus on specific goals and take consistent action to find clarity. My purpose is to make a difference and positively impact the lives of others. I embrace a world where collaboration and the advancement of meaningful change is cultivated from minds that think unconventionally and question the status quo.”
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers, among others, for having one of the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 4,800 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2023, Campbell Law is celebrating 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 14 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.