RALEIGH – A dearth of young attorneys choosing bankruptcy law is the impetus behind Campbell Law School’s new Stubbs Bankruptcy Fellowships, said Dean J. Rich Leonard, a former U.S. Bankruptcy judge.
“A few years ago a group of us were talking about how worried we were that there were not enough young lawyers going into bankruptcy law,” Leonard explained.
So he asked the law school’s Stubbs Bankruptcy Law Clinic namesake Trawick Stubbs, the patriarch of the bankruptcy bar in North Carolina and the senior partner in Stubbs Perdue, if he would be willing to sponsor a unique scholarship to encourage law students to take at least three bankruptcy courses.
“We have a vibrant bankruptcy curriculum here at the law school, with the introductory Bankruptcy course, the Stubbs Bankruptcy Clinic and the Corporate Reorganization course,” Leonard wrote in an email to students. “Disappointingly, registration had dwindled in these courses and the bankruptcy bar, particularly in Eastern North Carolina, looks to our school to provide skilled practitioners in this area of practice.”
Thanks to Stubbs’ generous donation, Cameron Huffstutter ’24 has earned the Stubbs Bankruptcy Fellowship of $5,000 this week after completing all three courses, including the Clinic taught by Director Ciara Rogers of Oliver and Cheek. Last year five law students earned the fellowship.
“My hope is to continue to find generous donors who will help fund the Bankruptcy Fellowships for current students for years to come,” Leonard added.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL
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 for having 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 2024, Campbell Law is celebrating 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 15 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.