Author Valerie Bauerlein speaks at Craven-Everett Inn of Court about her book on Alex Murdaugh case
Alex Murdaugh, the former South Carolina attorney who was convicted in March 2023 of murdering his family, caught the nation’s attention due to several unique elements. That’s according to New York Times best-selling author Valerie Bauerlein, who discussed her book, “The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty,” with Campbell Law School Dean J. Rich Leonard during a Craven-Everett Inn of Court event on Nov. 14 at the law school. Murdaugh was found guilty on two counts of murder without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting his 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul at their home in 2021. He was ordered to serve two consecutive life sentences for the murders. He also is serving 40 years for federal financial crimes, which he pleaded guilty to. Bauerlein told a group of about 60 Inn of Court members, Campbell Law alumni, faculty, staff and students that her interest in the Murdaugh case began when she was covering South Carolina for The State and later the Wall Street Journal. The case, which has been made into a Netflix series, is unique in part due to a parent killing an adult child and its connection to the South’s rural power dynamics combined with a bizarre series of events. Learn more at this link.
Campbell Law alumni win another N.C. Court of Appeals seat, two Council of State seats
North Carolina voters chose three Campbell Law alumni to fill another seat on the state Court of Appeals and two Council of State seats –- Auditor and Secretary of State. Tom Murry ‘07 won Seat 12 on the N.C. Court of Appeals, over his opponent Carolyn Jennings Thompson. Dave Boliek Jr. ‘97, a Campbell Law School and Campbell Business School graduate, flipped the state Auditor seat, ousting incumbent Jessica Holmes, who was appointed to the position in late 2023 after Beth Wood resigned. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall ‘81, also a Campbell Law graduate, was the only Democratic incumbent to retain her position in the Council of State. Learn more at this link.
Campbell Law alumni elected across the state
North Carolina voters not only chose three Campbell Law alumni to fill yet another seat on the state Court of Appeals and two Council of State seats, they also chose alumni for a N.C. State Senate District seat, two N.C. House of Representative seats, seven N.C. Superior Court Judge seats, 35 N.C. District Court Judge seats, one District Attorney seat and a Duplin County Board of Education seat. Learn more at this link.
Campbell Law hosts largest Career Night in school history
More than 300 law students and employers participated in Campbell Law’s Career and Professional Development Center annual Career Night on Nov. 6, making it the law school’s largest annual Career Night in the school’s history. Held for the first time in downtown Raleigh’s Union Station, Career Night is a large-scale networking event designed to introduce first-year law students to attorneys from multiple practice settings and areas in the broader legal community, explained Assistant Dean of Career and Professional Development Mallory Underwood. More than 200 students, including some second-and third-year law students, had the opportunity to meet more than 90 attorneys representing 56 employers in the broader legal community for an evening of networking and relationship building. The event was generously sponsored by Lawyers Mutual Inc. Learn more at this link.
Campbell Law Registrar Connie Shipman Newsome named president-elect of AACRAO
Campbell Law Registrar Dr. Connie Shipman Newsome has been named president-elect for the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) for the 2025-2028 cycle. Newsome will serve a three-year term that will begin at the annual conference in Seattle, Washington, in spring of 2025. Learn more at this link
Students compete in 2024 Richard Bowser Client Counseling Competition
Casey Bouker ‘26 and Elizabeth Robertson ‘26 are the winners of the 2024 Richard T. Bowser Client Counseling Competition, which concluded on Saturday, Nov. 16. Laurel Szalkowski ‘25 was awarded best advocate. Five teams of two participated in the competition, according to Kendall Barbour ‘25, who helped organize the in-house competition as part of Old Kivett. The judges were former Client Counseling competition coaches Dean Emerita and Professor Melissa Essary and Restorative Justice Clinic Director Jon Powell ‘98 and current Client Counseling coach Skylar Gallagher ‘19, an attorney at McAngus Goudelock & Courie in Raleigh. Learn more at this link.
René Shekmer named Campbell Law’s director of competitive advocacy
Campbell Law has hired B. René Shekmer as the new director of the competitive advocacy program, Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced. She started in her new role on Monday, Nov. 18. Shekmer, a decorated criminal trial attorney who lives in Cary, will take over Campbell Law’s award-winning advocacy teams most recently led by Director Mary Ann Matney ‘17. The bulk of Shekmer’s 31-year career was spent as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. In this role, she obtained more than 600 felony convictions and tried more than 60 federal jury trials. Shekmer also acted as a co-counsel to assist and evaluate new attorneys during their first trials. Learn more at this link.
Campbell Law students receive scholarships from Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) chapter
Two Campbell Law students have been awarded Research Triangle Area Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) scholarships. Brianna Kolsin ‘25 and Imani Henderson ‘26 will each receive $5,000 to go toward tuition, according to Brian Klemm, board member of the Research Triangle Area Chapter of the ACC. Learn more at this link.
Campbell Law Alumni Business Spotlight
Do you know a Campbell Law alumna/alumnus who has started their own firm within the past decade and would like to be featured in a Campbell Law Alumni Business Spotlight? Please send their name and the firm’s name to Director of Communications and Marketing Lisa Snedeker at lsnedeker@campbell.edu.
Deb Rasmussen ’23 was an entrepreneur for 15 years before she attended Campbell Law. So, it should come as no surprise that she decided to take the leap to hang out a shingle and start her own law firm in Apex. Prior to law school, she was an entrepreneur in the personal publishing and scanning business and later worked as a real estate and estate planning paralegal for Jonathan Richardson. That’s where she discovered her passion for estate planning. After law school, Rasmussen clerked for former Chief Judge Donna Stroud ‘88 of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and worked as an associate attorney for the Stam Law Firm in Apex. In May 2024, she founded her own law firm, Rasmussen Law PLLC, which focuses on estate planning. Rasmussen earned a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics with minors in Chinese and Japanese from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, the J. Reuben Clark Legal Society and the Apex Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband, Lars, love North Carolina and are the proud parents of four children. Learn more at this link.
The Lawyer Stories Podcast Episode 203 features Rich Leonard, Dean at Campbell University School in Raleigh, North Carolina, and author of “From Welcome to Windhoek: A Judge’s Journey.” We discuss Dean Leonard’s story, growing up in Welcome, North Carolina, and becoming an innovative judge, global citizen and go-to guy for court-building in emerging African nations. Over the course of his long career, Dean Leonard has been a pioneering judge, a groundbreaking court administrator, a restorer of historic courthouses and, at age 29 the youngest U.S. District Court Clerk in the country. The official Lawyer Stories community features lawyers and law students worldwide. Listen at this link.
Spring 2025 OCI – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are reserved for in-person interviews. Tuesdays and Thursdays are reserved for virtual interviews.
Spring 2025 Resume Collect – All resume packets will be sent on the designated date. Employers will then schedule interviews on their own timeline. For more information, visit this link.
SAVE THE DATE
- Commencement Ceremony for December graduates on Main Campus December 14
- Christmas Holiday (Law School Closed) December 22-January 1, 2025
- Alumni Association U.S. Supreme Court Swearing-In Trip February 24, 2025
- Alumni Association Reunion for Classes of 1980, 1985, 1995, 2000, 2015 and 2020 on May 3
- Campbell Law Hooding and Commencement May 9
Get your Campbell Law swag
Looking for Campbell Law apparel? Our Campbell Law brand shop is ready and open for business! All orders are made on demand and ship in approximately 15 days. We have T-shirts, polos, sweatshirts, sweaters, jackets, hats, scarves, tumblers, coasters and more! Click here to shop.
Are you a Campbell Law judge?
If you or anyone you know is a Campbell Law alumna/nus and also a current or past judge, we are expanding our "Judges of Campbell Law" wall we unveiled in 2021! The exhibit honors alumni who have served on a variety of judicial benches. Read more at this link. Please contact Coordinator of External Relations Sharon Sparks at ssparks@campbell.edu or call 919-865-4652 for more information.