RALEIGH — Professor Johnny C. Chriscoe Jr. ’90 is Campbell Law School’s recipient of the Dean’s Excellence Award for 2024, Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced.
He was also the recipient of the 2008 Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award and the recipient of the 2011 Student Bar Association’s Professor of the Year Award, the third time he has received the award since joining the Campbell Law faculty in 2000.
Chriscoe, who was granted full tenure in 2017, currently teaches torts, insurance law, trial and appellate advocacy and personal property, and has also coached several trial teams.
An admired professor, Chriscoe is known for “bringing charm and intellect into the classroom,” Leonard explained. “Professor Chriscoe has made an indelible mark on Campbell University School of Law and the lives of its graduates. He has educated first-year students on complex legal doctrine for more than two decades using a mixture of life experiences, humor and passion. He has trained a generation of upper-level students in the professional skills necessary to be successful in practice — from original complaint to the courtroom. Professor Chriscoe has a true gift as an educator capable of making complex legal theories accessible to every student in his tutelage.”
Chriscoe’s reputation as a witty, engaging teacher dedicated to making complex legal subjects accessible to all is best expressed by the following student reflections from recent evaluations:
- “Professor Chriscoe makes the course engaging and enjoyable. I appreciate that he brings real life lessons from the legal field into our lessons and really respects us as students. He is an incredibly kind person, and I am so thankful I had him during my first semester.”
- “Professor Chriscoe made the material engaging and truly cares about his students. That speaks volumes about a teacher and the dedication to the subject they teach.”
- ”Amazing and intelligent Professor. He cares a lot about his students.”
- “Professor Chriscoe genuinely cares about his students and wants them to succeed in his class. He is one of the best torts professors in the country…”
- “Professor Chriscoe adds a memorable and humorous flair to what could be a rather dry course. His approach is unique and allowed me to have a laser focus on the material. Concepts that seemed complex were detangled in a matter of minutes. He’s clearly an expert in this area of the law and cares so deeply about his students.”
- “Professor Chriscoe is able to boil things down for us so that we know what we need to know. He does not hide the ball. He is clear in the way he teaches, and the things we really need to perfect to ensure we are successful in his class, on the bar and in practice.”
- “I feel like you are not a Campbell Law grad if you did not have Professor Chriscoe.”
Beyond the classroom, Chriscoe is a very well respected Campbell Law community leader and scholar. He has published several scholarly articles addressing issues affecting torts claimants. Professor Chriscoe’s publications include: “Re-examining Reasonableness: Negligence Liability in Adult Defendants with Cognitive Disabilities,” 6 ALA. C.R. & C.L. L. REV. 1 (2015), “Murder for Life Insurance Money: Protecting the Children,” 58 S. TEXAS L. REV. 173 (2017), and “A Plea to North Carolina: Bring Fairness to the Assessment of Civil Battery Liability for Defendants with Cognitive Disabilities,” 39 CAMPBELL L. REV. 241 (2017). Professor Chriscoe has also contributed to the North Carolina practicing bar by authoring supplements to Shuford’s North Carolina Practice & Procedure — a primary source for North Carolina litigators.
Chriscoe is a leader in law school curricular reform and the founder of Campbell Advantage, the law school’s unique first-year law student success program — a program he directs and regularly updates. He also has had a significant role in developing third-year bar success programs and most recently created the law school’s program for educating law students in professional identity formation.
Chriscoe earned his J.D. from Campbell Law in 1990, graduating summa cum laude and first in his class. After graduating, he began his legal career as a clerk on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, then transitioned into private litigation practice before returning to Campbell Law, first as Assistant Dean of External Relations and then as an Assistant, Associate and Professor of Law.
“Campbell Law is fortunate to have such an exceptional professor, colleague and friend who is committed to the lives and careers of its students,” Leonard added. “We take enormous pride in recognizing Professor Chriscoe for his excellence in the classroom and contributions as a servant-scholar.”
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Since its founding in 1986, 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 4,800 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2024, Campbell Law is celebrating 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 15 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.