Keith Faulkner named interim dean of Campbell Law

RALEIGH – B. Keith Faulkner has been named the interim dean for Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law.

Faulkner, who will begin serving in his new role on July 1, replaces Melissa Essary, who has served as dean since 2006. Essary will join the faculty of the law school upon leaving the dean’s office.

“The leadership of Campbell University is grateful to Dean Melissa Essary,” Provost Dwaine Greene said. “She was an extraordinary leader at the law school for six years. Faulkner is a skilled administrator who will build on the record of recent years. We have every confidence that the months ahead will bring continued strong leadership, coupled with ever-increasing student and faculty successes.”

Faulkner, who currently serves as the Vice Dean for Administration and External Relations for the law school, has also held the positions of Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Administration and Associate Dean for External Relations at the law school since his arrival in 2004.

A graduate of Campbell’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, Faulkner’s professional background includes private law practice as a litigation associate in one of North Carolina’s largest law firms, partnership in a private practice, eight years of service in the United States Navy as a submariner, nuclear power plant operator and instructor in the Nuclear Power Training Pipeline. 

Faulkner is active in the profession, serving on several boards and on bar-related committees that include the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Annual Questionnaire Committee, North Carolina Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee, the Wake County Bar Association’s Professionalism and Public Service Committees, North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services Board, where he serves as treasurer, and many others.

Faulkner teaches courses at the law school on topics including Law Practice Management, Start Your Own Law Firm, Pre-trial Litigation and also serves as a visiting professor in Campbell University’s Lundy-Fetterman School of Business where he teaches classes on business ethics and regulation of business.

He was instrumental in assisting Dean Essary with the transition of the law school from Buies Creek to its new location in Raleigh in 2009.