Buies Creek, N.C.—Wednesday, August 13, marked a milestone for Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law as the school held its final opening convocation on the Buies Creek campus before relocating to Raleigh. Dean Melissa Essary called the convocation a historical and moving event.“This year we celebrate a watershed moment in the history of the Law School, our last year in Buies Creek,” Essary said. “But the legacy of excellence and dedication the school has established over the past 32 years goes with us to Raleigh.”In her keynote address, speaker Janet Ward Black, past president of the North Carolina Bar Association, discussed the challenges facing the legal profession.“We’ve got a problem with the image of the legal profession. A recent survey conducted by the North Carolina Bar Association to find a solution to this problem brought us back to the core of the rule of law—liberty and justice for all,” she said. “People expect the justice system to be fair to all people and corporations alike. It should never be the case of how much justice you can afford.”Black urged students to do their part in helping to change the profession’s image by getting involved with public service projects such as the one sponsored by the N.C. Bar Association this summer. Over 1,000 lawyers volunteered their time to man phone banks across the state and give free legal advice to approximately 6,000 people. “People were amazed at the generosity and concern of these law professionals,” she said.Campbell’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law welcomed 154 first-year law students for the 2008-2009 academic year. The Law School will relocate to Raleigh in August 2009.Established in 1976, the Law School has been consistently recognized for overall excellence, receiving two prestigious awards from the American Bar Association for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy program and the nation’s top Professionalism program. The school posted a 97 percent bar passage rate in 2006 and has maintained the highest overall average bar passage rate among North Carolina Law Schools for the past 15 years.Janet Ward Black is a Greensboro attorney and the immediate past president of the North Carolina Bar Association. A graduate of Davidson College and Duke Law School, Black has also served as president of the 4000-member North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, serves on the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice and is Trustee Emeritus of Hood Theological Seminary. She was named a North Carolina “Superlawyer” and in “Best Lawyers in America,” as well as one of Business North Carolina’s “Legal Elite.” She is the principal owner of Ward Black Law in Greensboro.Photo Copy: Award-winning trial lawyer and past president of the North Carolina Bar Association Janet Ward Black delivers the keynote address at Campbell Law School’s final convocation ceremony on the Buies Creek campus. (Photo by Bennett Scarborough)
Law School holds final convocation at Buies Creek campus