The Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University is reporting a significant increase in applications for admission to begin law school in the fall of 2009. As of May 31, 2009, total applications to Campbell Law are up 25 percent over the prior year while applications to law schools nationally are up just six percent. 

Campbell Law’s fall 2009 relocation from the main Campbell University campus in Buies Creek to Raleigh seems to be having a direct impact on applicants. Since October 2007, when Campbell Law first announced the move, applications for admission have steadily increased. However, the most dramatic surge has come in response to the entering class of 2009 – the first class that will complete all three years of law school in the new Raleigh location.

Assistant Dean for Admissions Lewis Hutchison said, “Today's students want to be in an urban environment where they can gain experience and see the law in action. Being within walking distance of the state legislature, appellate courts, state agencies and dozens of law firms and corporate offices, means our students will be able to do both.”

Campbell Law will open for classes at 225 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh in September 2009. The Law School’s new location will boast over 109,000 sq. ft. of space, a 40 percent increase over the Law School’s traditional home in Buies Creek. The new building will have 13 spacious classrooms, 175-seat auditorium for use by Campbell Law and the broader community, 25,000 sq. ft. library, large student commons area and coffee shop, chapel, pro bono law clinic offices, and a generously spaced legal writing center. The Law School will be fitted with the latest in instructional and wireless technology, making Campbell Law one of the most advanced institutions of legal education in the country.

“The excitement around Campbell Law’s relocation to Raleigh is palpable,” said Dean Melissa Essary. “The outpouring of interest in Campbell Law and our new location is testimony to the strength of our program and the desire of many promising lawyers to live, study and work in this dynamic city.”

About Campbell Law School: Since its founding in 1976, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others and create a more just society. 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. In 2008, the Law School’s Moot Court Program was ranked in the top ten nationally by the University of Houston’s Blakely Advocacy Institute among 196 ABA accredited law schools. Campbell Law boasts more than 3,000 alumni, including 2,000 who reside and work in North Carolina. For the past 20 years, Campbell Law’s record of success on the North Carolina bar exam is unsurpassed by any other North Carolina law school. In September 2009, Campbell Law School will relocate from the main Campbell University campus to a new location in downtown Raleigh.

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