Home ›
About ›
Communications ›
NCBA News ›
2007 News Articles › Campbell Law School Moving to Raleigh
Campbell Law School Moving to Raleigh
Article Date: Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Written By: Russell Rawlings
Dean Melissa Essary |
RALEIGH – Campbell University made it official Thursday morning (Oct. 4) by announcing that it was relocating the Norman A. Wiggins School of Law to Raleigh.
The announcement transpired on the grounds of the State Capitol just a few blocks from the new address at 225 Hillsborough Street, a building presently known as Hillsborough Place.
Official announcement came from Harold B. Wells, chair of the Campbell University Board of Trustees, which voted unanimously to make the move on Wednesday.
“We came to this decision after great pause, extensive research and consideration,” said Wells. “The Board of Trustees sees this move as an opportunity for Campbell University to further extend its unique approach to legal education into a much broader community.”
Campbell President Jerry Wallace addresses audience. |
In making the move, Campbell officials noted, Raleigh will no longer hold the distinction as the largest state capital without a law school within its city limits.
Raleigh is also one of the largest cities in the nation without a law school, a fact that will change in the fall of 2009 when Campbell completes the relocation process. A price tag in the range of $20-25 million has been suggested as the amount necessary to renovate and convert the existing facility; fund-raising efforts, noted Campbell President Jerry Wallace, will now begin in earnest.
Platform guests included Chief Justice Sarah Parker of the N.C. Supreme Court, Mayor Charles Meeker of Raleigh and Tony Gurley who chairs the Wake County Board of Commissioners.
Essary addresses media following announcement. |
Dean Melissa Essary, now in her second year with the law school, recognized members of the Campbell University School of Law family, including students, faculty and impressive outpouring of alumni.
Some 1,500 graduates of the Campbell law school are members of the North Carolina Bar Association.
“Relocating to Raleigh offers unprecedented opportunities for our students and faculty to access all branches of government and to further utilize Raleigh’s concentration of legal experts,” Essary noted in a university release.
An impressive crowd gathered for the Campbell announcement. |
“The move to Raleigh will create alliances and partnerships that we have yet to even imagine.”
The impact of this move, Essary concluded, will endure long after those taking place in today’s announcement are gone.
Considerations for the move to Raleigh, the university noted, included the high number of current students (one-third) that currently commute from Raleigh to Buies Creek. In addition, the move to Raleigh will offer expanded law and judicial clerkships and externship opportunities to students.
The law school was established in 1976 and renamed in honor of Dr. Wiggins, longtime university president, in 1990.
---
Additional coverage and information is available via the law school Web site, law.campbell.edu