Campbell law school draws grant for clinic

RALEIGH -- Campbell University's law school has received a $1 million grant from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation to establish a legal clinic at its new downtown raleigh location.

The clinic, announced last week, will provide free legal services to low-income residents and other people.

Campbell announced last year that it was moving its Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law from the small Harnett County town of Buies Creek to the Capital City's 107,000-square-foot Hillsborough Place building, which it is renovating at a cost of about $13 million. Its opening is planned for September.

The Fletcher Foundation's grant is a "challenge grant," meaning the law school will receive the $1 million when it raises an equal amount from other donors. The $2 million will go to rent office space and fund the clinic's operations.

Led by Barbara and Jim Goodmon, the nonprofit Fletcher Foundation supports a wide range of groups that help the powerless. Jim Goodmon is president and CEO of Raleigh's Capitol Broadcasting Co., which owns WRAL-TV and the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team.

Campbell announced the grant at a news conference in the courtyard of Hillsborough Place. The event included speeches by the Goodmons, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker and Melissa Essary, the dean of Campbell's 350-student law school.

Essary said the law school hopes to operate the legal clinic in partnership with other organizations, such as Legal Aid of North Carolina and the North Carolina Justice and Community Development Center. Essary said space on the third floor of Hillsborough Place will be set aside for clinics that will allow Campbell students to interact with clients.

Barbara Goodmon said the $1 million grant to Campbell's law school fit perfectly with the Fletcher Foundation's mission. She said its goal is to create a network of nonprofit organizations in downtown Raleigh that work together to help the needy and change public policy.

"My hope, our hope, is that this is the beginning of a new day in North Carolina that will start right here in Raleigh," she said.