Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law

The Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law is a private law school located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1976, the law school is one of six graduate programs offered by Campbell University. The school is named after its founder Norman Adrian Wiggins, former President and Chancellor of Campbell University.

Campbell graduates are renowned for their excellent bar passage rates in North Carolina. Over the past 25 years, Campbell has maintained the highest average bar passage rate in the state. [1] Campbell graduates passed the July 2011 North Carolina bar exam at a rate of 92%. [2] In recent years, graduates of Campbell have maintained up to 100% bar passage rates in many other states. The school is also known for its Christian perspective on the law.

Situated at 225 Hillsborough Street, the law school is two blocks from the North Carolina State Capitol. The Wake County Courthouse, Supreme Court of North Carolina, the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and the North Carolina General Assembly building are also within walking distance. Nearby, over 125 law firms, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies are spread throughout downtown and the surrounding city. Formerly located in Buies Creek, North Carolina, the law school relocated to the downtown area of Raleigh in September 2009..^[1] It is the only law school located in North Carolina's capital city.

Campbell Law School is also home to the North Carolina Business Court-Raleigh Division. The North Carolina Business Court is a specialized forum of the North Carolina State Courts’ trial division. Cases involving complex and significant issues of corporate and commercial law in our state are assigned by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court to a special superior court judge who oversees resolution of all matters in the case through trial. The Business Court is accessible to law students (See NC Business Court Website).

On November 11, 2011, the law school made legal history in North Carolina when an all-North Carolina panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments before the court at the school's business courtroom in Raleigh. This historic occasion marked the first time since 1891 that a three-member panel of judges from North Carolina has sat together on the court. Judges Albert Diaz, Allyson Duncan, and James Wynn Jr. represented the Fourth Circuit, which consists of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.^[2]

Student body

There are 407 students enrolled at Campbell Law for the 2009-2010 academic year. The ratio of male to female students is 51%/49%. The Law school has both traditional and non-traditional students representing 109 undergraduate schools and 57 different undergraduate majors. Minority students make up 12 percent of the student body, but with the move to downtown Raleigh, interest from prospective minority students has increased.

Academics

The median LSAT for students entering Campbell Law School in Fall 2010 was 156 and the average undergraduate GPA was 3.37.

Campbell Law is a full-time, three-year program offering courses in all areas of the law. There is no night or part-time program offered at this time.

During the three-year program at Campbell Law School, students can opt to follow a general track, business law track, intellectual property track, or advocacy track. Completing the three-year program at Campbell Law School earns students a Juris Doctor. Campbell Law School also two joint degree programs - JD/MBA (Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration) or JD/MTWM (Juris Doctor and Master of Trust and Wealth Management). Both combined degrees can be completed in three years. The MBA and MTWM degrees are awarded by Campbell University.

Activities

Campbell Law houses both a Juvenile Justice Clinic and a Senior Law Clinic where students can get involved in pro-bono work and assist attorneys and judges. For second and third year students, Campbell Law is also affiliated with the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence and is home to the Campbell Law Innocence Project where students partner with the center to review, investigate and make recommendations on real criminal cases.

Campbell Law School has many strong teams that participate in intramural, regional and national Moot Court, Trial Advocacy, Client Counseling and Negotiations Competitions. All students in good academic standing are eligible to compete. The competitions attract many attorneys and judges from the area providing students with great opportunity and exposure. Campbell Law Moot Court Team won back-to-back national championships in 2007 and 2008.

Campbell Law School has two school publications: the Campbell Law Observer and Campbell Law Review. The Campbell Law Observer newspaper is completed managed by law students. Published six times a year, the paper features reports on recent state and federal court opinions, scholarly articles on current legal topics and subjects of general interest to the legal community. The Campbell Law Review is written and edited by students who demonstrate the highest degree of academic excellence produce a publication of scholarly writings on current legal topics.

Campbell Law School has two fraternities, Delta Theta Phi and Phi Alpha Delta, and a variety of other organizations such as;

The Federalist Society, Campbell Law Democrats, Pro Bono Publico, Moot Court Association Campbell Law Republicans, Christian Legal Society, Women in Law, Sports and Entertainment Law, Black Law Student Association, Hispanic Society, American Bar Association-Law Student Division, Jewish Legal Society, Prisoner Assistance & Legal Services,Student Bar Association American Civil Liberties Union, Public Interest Law Initiative, Campbell Law Innocence Project, and more.

Each of these organizations host guest speakers, events and do community service work.

Facility

Campbell Law School is located at 225 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina. All law students are assigned reserved parking either on campus or in the surrounding blocks. Parking is provided for all students, faculty, and staff.

The Law School building is 110,000 square feet (10,000 m²) and includes 13 technologically advanced classrooms and three contemporary courtrooms; a large auditorium serves students and welcomes guest speakers; the spacious law library provides ample workspace, research materials and group study rooms; and a dedicated attorney resource room will welcome the area's legal professionals and Campbell Law alumni who need a place to work during trips to Raleigh. The building is entirely wireless as is printing for students.

Joint degrees

Campbell Law School offers three different joint degree programs.

Students can combine their Juris Doctor (JD) with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) through Campbell University's Business School, a Master of Trust and Wealth Management (MTWM) degree in conjunction with Campbell’s Lundy-Fetterman School of Business, which is a unique degree not found anywhere else in the nation, or its most recent program the combined Juris Doctor and Master in Public Administration (MPA). The combined JD/MPA is achieved through students taking law classes at Campbell Law School and public administration classes at NC State University which is a mile down the road from Campbell Law School. The combing the JD & MPA allows students to finish what would separately take five years of schooling into four years.http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/7187419/

Notable alumni

The Law School currently has alumni living and working in 40 U.S. states and 6 countries.

• Margaret Person Currin, 1979, former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; first woman ever appointed to that position in North Carolina.
• John M. Tyson, 1979, former judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
• Elaine F. Marshall, 1981, current North Carolina Secretary of State and the first woman ever elected to the North Carolina Council of State.
• Ann Marie Calabria, 1983, current judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
• Don Brown (author), 1987, bestselling author of legal and military fiction and attorney, former U.S. military prosecutor.
• Donna Stroud, 1988, current judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
• V. Stuart Couch, 1996, former U.S. military prosecutor and judge; currently with Poyner Spruill, Charlotte, NC.

References

1. ^ WRAL Story, Campbell Law School Excites Downtown Raleigh, October 9, 2009.
2. ^ Campbell Law Press Release -- Historic Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Arguments Held at Campbell Law School, November 11, 2011

• http://carolinanewswire.com/news/News.cgi?database=0001news.db&command=viewone&id=558&op=t
• http://www.top-law-schools.com/campbell-law.html
• http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/09/21/story6.html

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 35°46′49″N 78°38′35″W / 35.7802°N 78.6430°W / 35.7802; -78.6430