RALEIGH – Campbell Law School’s Gailor Family Law Litigation Clinic reached a milestone earlier this month by opening its 400th case since opening in August 2021.
The pro bono clinic provides representation and legal services to indigent residents of Wake County. The clinic addresses challenging family law issues including divorce, paternity, child custody and child support among other family law issues where it is often difficult to find representation for low-income individuals. The needs assessment completed in 2021 by the Chief Justice’s Commission on Access to Justice found this to be the greatest area of unmet need for legal services among North Carolinians of modest resources.
“We’re now at 403 cases actually,” explained Clinic Director Richard Waugaman III ’12, ‘09, who also serves as the law school’s Assistant Dean of Experiential Learning.
The clinic currently has 58 active cases and a full waitlist, Waugaman added. “What we have found is that the need is just enormous,” he said.
That need is just one reason the clinic was one of the 2025 recipients of a $30,000 Wake County Bar Association (WCBA) Foundation Community Grant.
“This grant is so needed and so helpful because it enables us to do more of what we are doing,” Waugaman said when the grant was announced. “The thing I see more than anything with the clients is relief in knowing there is reason for optimism versus feeling so stuck and unable to move forward with their lives and maximize their own potential.
“Ideally we wouldn’t need a clinic because everyone would be able to afford legal services, but that is not reality. We are trying to step into a gap that exists right now and help and fill in as much as possible.”
To date, more than 100 students have enrolled in the course, helped handle cases and been involved in 189 contested trials.
While working in the clinic, students learn a client-centered approach to the practice of family law by engaging in client counseling, case strategy, negotiation and, if necessary, assist with trial of family law cases under the “Student Practice Rule.” The clinic also provides students with the opportunity to work on various types of family law cases with several different clients during their semester in the clinic and beyond.
Learn more about the clinic 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 will celebrate 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.