RALEIGH — Campbell Law School’s Stubbs Bankruptcy Clinic has received a $10,000 grant to expand the clinic’s services to residents in Eastern North Carolina.
The grant is from the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation. The Foundation reports it has funded $444,087 in grants this year. As part of their missions, the College and the Foundation, through the Foundation’s Pro Bono Committee, award grants to organizations providing assistance to individuals and groups in need of bankruptcy-related legal representation, training and/or education. Since 2012, the College and Foundation have awarded more than $4 million in grants to these worthy programs.
“This grant will allow us to hold information sessions about the services the clinic can offer to some of the smaller communities with the greatest needs in the Eastern District,” explained Clinic Director Ciara L. Rogers.
Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard, who served as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for more than 20 years, led the effort to start the clinic in January 2014. The clinic is in the process of relocating back to the Century Station Federal Building on Fayetteville Street, where the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina holds court, Rogers said.
“As a bankruptcy judge, I saw first-hand the challenges and difficulties faced by people who need and deserve the protection of federal bankruptcy laws but are unable to afford quality legal representation,” Leonard said. “This grant will allow Director Rogers and her law students to expand the clinic’s services to those who need them most.”
Under the direct supervision of Rogers, who has a private practice with a focus on bankruptcy, alternatives to bankruptcy, civil litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and employment law, the students gain experience in areas such as client interviewing and fact gathering, client counseling, analyzing options and potential outcomes, observing deadlines and client communication.
Students have a unique opportunity to engage with debtor and creditor attorneys, courtroom staff, trustees, the Bankruptcy Administrator’s office, federal judges, and, most important, real clients. Students may also have the chance to appear in court on behalf of their clients, providing students with the chance to use the skills and knowledge they have learned in law school to help real clients with real problems.
The clinic receives referrals from legal services, private attorneys, the bankruptcy trustees, as well as the court when a person’s pro se efforts appear to affect the proper administration of justice.
The clinic is named in honor of prominent North Carolina bankruptcy attorney Trawick “Buzzy” Stubbs Jr.
For more information about the clinic or to schedule an information session, email Rogers at crogers@campbell.edu.
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