RALEIGH — The Campbell Law School Alumni Association raised nearly $300,000 thanks to this year’s Alumni Reunion, which was held April 11 as part of the law school’s yearlong 50th anniversary celebration.
Assistant Dean of External Relations Megan Sherron ‘10 said members of the graduating classes of 1981, 1986, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2016 and 2021 rallied their classmates to make donations to the law school so they could present Dean J. Rich Leonard with a check for $292,670.
“The Campbell Law Alumni Association was so excited to see members of the respective reunion classes attend and reconnect at our reunion events,” Sherron said. “We are thankful for the generosity of the members of each class and for those who joined us for a day of visiting with old friends as well as celebrating the bonds all Campbell Law alumni share.”
More than 100 alumni and their families attended the morning events at the law school that included a family festival featuring a bouncy house, yard games and tours of the building led by current students.
Dean Leonard also delivered a state of the law school address followed by a Q&A session and lunch for attendees.
“It may surprise you that we are now the second largest law school in North Carolina. We send more people for the bar exam and we seat more judges in the state than any other law school … We just certified a 96.2 percent ultimate bar passage rate and we had a 100 percent first-time bar exam pass rate for the N.C. February bar. In trial advocacy, we have already won three national championships. We added two clinics to our existing five this past fall and they are really teaching our students how to practice law. Finally, I am an internationalist. This summer, we have students going to Cambridge, England, St. Andrews, Scotland, and I will take a group of 18 students with me to Ghana and we are launching a new program sending eight of our finest students to be judicial law clerks across Africa. The news is all good and I hope you are as proud of this law school as I am.”
The evening events included a formal reception and dinner, which was attended by more than 200 alumni and their guests, at Raleigh Union Station. Photos of those in attendance from each class were also taken.
Vice Dean Raven Byrne ‘06 gave the dinner invocation. “We thank You for this beautiful evening and for the gift of time. We thank You for the memories we share and the sweet relationships that we formed. We thank You for your abundant blessings on Campbell Law School and the University, specifically the law school over the past 50 years and we ask that You continue to bless it.”
Leonard added, “We’ve come a long way. My first year at the law school 13 years ago, we held a reunion event and only about a dozen people came.”
Photos of the events can be found on the law school’s Facebook page at this link.
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 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2026, Campbell Law is celebrating 50 years of graduating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.