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RALEIGH, N.C. – The Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University today announced it has received a $1 million challenge grant from the A. J. Fletcher Foundation to establish Legal Clinic space within Campbell Law’s new Raleigh location.
The grant will be applied to Campbell Law’s $27.5 million Campaign for Raleigh. Funds raised toward the challenge grant will help underwrite the Legal Clinic’s operations, which will focus on critical community issues such as housing and needs of low-income seniors, among other important social justice concerns.
“This grant is a wonderful fit with the mission of the A. J. Fletcher Foundation,” said Barbara Goodmon, president of the A. J. Fletcher Foundation. “My hope, our hope, is that this is the beginning of a new day in North Carolina that will start right here in Raleigh.”
Campbell Law School Dean Melissa Essary noted, “The creation of the Legal Clinic will allow our students – the next generation of community leaders – to work directly with those who often have no voice, and certainly no legal representation.” Essary continued, “It is our responsibility to help our students view the practice of law as a calling to serve others and we could not be more grateful for Barbara and Jim Goodmon’s support in accomplishing this objective.”
“We congratulate Campbell Law School and the city of Raleigh for a job well done, but there is much work to be done,” said Jim Goodmon, Chairman of Capitol Broadcasting. “Our support of Campbell Law is a challenge grant. We expect the community to step up and be involved with this historic project.”
The Campbell Law School Legal Clinic will be dedicated to providing low-income and other residents of the greater Raleigh region with pro bono legal services. Led by experienced clinical directors, the programs will be staffed by second and third year Campbell Law students. In addition to providing valuable service to individuals who might not otherwise be able to retain an attorney, the Legal Clinic will present future lawyers with practical, hands-on experience.
About Campbell Law School: Since its founding in 1976, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others and create a more just society. 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. In 2008, the Law School’s Moot Court Program was ranked in the top ten nationally by the University of Houston’s Blakely Advocacy Institute among 196 ABA accredited law schools. Campbell Law boasts more than 3,000 alumni, including 2,000 who reside and work in North Carolina. For the past 20 years, Campbell Law’s record of success on the North Carolina bar exam is unsurpassed by any other North Carolina law school.