Campbell Law Students Visit U.S. Supreme Court

Third-year law students Melissa Ivey and Charis Link joined second year student Taylor Hayes and first year student Dorothy Gooding at the proceedings. Professors Bobbi Jo Boyd and John Powell attended as well.

Each year, the Supreme Court of the United States receives roughly 8,000 petitions seeking a Writ of Certiorari, of which approximately 80 (or 1%) are granted. The North Carolina case the Campbell Law group observed oral arguments for J.D.B. v. North Carolina, a case involving a 13 year-old Chapel Hill, North Carolina, middle school student being questioned at his school by police. The Justices have been asked to determine if the student was in “custody” when questioned and, therefore, if the 13 year-old was entitled to receive Miranda warnings. Relevant to the Court’s Miranda analysis is whether the 13 year-old felt “free to leave.”

After oral arguments, the Campbell Law group ate lunch with Major General William K. Suter, Clerk of the United States Supreme Court, who then arranged for the group to tour the nation’s high court.

While waiting on the Court’s ruling, the group who attended the hearing hosted a panel discussion of the case on Friday, April 1 at the Law School. Panelists include several North Carolina attorneys who helped litigate the case including:

“The opportunity to study this case in a classroom, see it argued live in the Supreme Court, then discuss it with those involved is extraordinary for our students,” said Professor Bobbi Jo Boyd. “It demonstrates how Campbell Law approaches legal education – an opportunity to learn about what it means to be a lawyer and to serve clients. As a Campbell Law student, you experience the practice of law in ways that move beyond the walls of a classroom.”

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. 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 3,200 alumni, including 2,200 who reside and work in North Carolina. For 23 years, Campbell Law’s record of success on the North Carolina Bar Exam has been unsurpassed by any other North Carolina law school.