RALEIGH — Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced that Campbell Law School Professor Roger Manus, who has dedicated more than 40 years to successfully advocating for seniors and persons with disabilities on a wide range of issues, is stepping down from his position after more than a decade.
As the first and only director of the Senior Law Clinic since its inception in 2009, plans are being made to honor Manus’ legacy with an in-person alumni reception planned for later this summer or fall.
“Roger has dedicated more than a decade to the law school, his students and helping seniors throughout our community and beyond,” Leonard said. “Please join me in honoring his legacy by making plans to attend a reception in his honor once we can safely have one.”
Under Manus’ leadership, the clinic served low-income seniors, who might not otherwise be able to afford the services of a lawyer, while simultaneously providing students with opportunities to gain practical experience in serving real clients with real needs. Together they addressed issues surrounding housing, simple wills, power of attorney, advanced directives, access to benefits, exploitation, consumer fraud and other significant concerns.
“I have loved being a lawyer, a teacher, a mentor and being able to serve those without other access to justice,” Manus said. “To be able to combine all that at Campbell Law School has been a real privilege, a gift that I do not take for granted.”
Manus helped organize and lead two transformative “Civil Rights and Racial Justice” tours for students, faculty and staff in December 2018 and 2019. The tour visited Atlanta, Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery and included stops at a variety of historical and commemorative sites of significance to the struggle for racial justice in America. Sites included the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Equal Justice Initiative, The Legacy Museum, The Edmund Pettus Bridge, The Rose Parks Museum, The Martin Luther King Jr. Center and The National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
He has also led the law school’s Pro Bono Committee since 2016 and served as the faculty sponsor of Campbell Public Interest Law Student Advocates (CPILSA).
Manus was appointed to chair the North Carolina Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging in 2017. A former attorney in private practice and a former managing attorney and senior staff attorney with a mental disability law reform project, he served as lead attorney in several successful class action litigation cases such as the Thomas S. lawsuit. He has been honored as a Wingspread Fellow, a Root Tilden Public Interest Law Scholar and with Distinguished Service Awards from the Community Living Association and Mental Health Association of North Carolina. He has also presented on elder law, ethics and disability rights at various continuing legal education (CLE) seminars.
Manus earned his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1977 and his B.A. in Anthropology from Macalester College in 1974. During his retirement, he plans to spend more time focused on his wife, family and friends, developing his creative writing and storytelling skills, traveling and addressing climate change and social justice issues.
Campbell Law would like to share memories of Professor Roger Manus on our website and on social media. Please send your anecdotes, photos, etc. to Communications and Marketing Director Lisa Snedeker at lsnedeker@campbell.edu.
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Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law 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 4,200 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2021, Campbell Law is celebrating 45 years of graduating legal leaders and a dozen years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.