Two Garner Residents Earn Their Law Degrees from Campbell University
Two Garner residents were among the 183 graduates conferred Juris Doctor degrees on Friday, May 9, 2025, during Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law’s 47th hooding and graduation ceremony at the Martin Marietta Center in downtown Raleigh.
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — Two Garner residents were among the 183 graduates conferred Juris Doctor degrees on Friday, May 9, 2025, during Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law’s 47th hooding and graduation ceremony at the Martin Marietta Center in downtown Raleigh.
They are:
Lauryl E. Fright, graduated cum laude and was a member of Campbell University Law Review
Parissa Y. Sharifyazdi
The Class of 2025 marks the largest graduating class in the law school’s history, said Dean J. Rich Leonard.
“Standing here in my 12th year as your dean, I have enormous confidence in the superb quality of our legal education program,” Leonard told the graduates. “In my final words to this class I love, we have taught you to analyze an issue thoroughly, write persuasively and stand on your feet and comfortably defend your position … Hopefully we have taught you to follow your own moral compass. And we have put you out in this community, in externships, clinics, pro bono initiatives and mentorships to learn how the practice of law works. You are ready. And your skills are desperately needed.”
North Carolina’s Attorney General Jeff Jackson in his first commencement address in his new role told the graduates his mission was to help them feel a little less anxious about their future including the upcoming bar exam and subsequent job hunt.
“Campbell does the best job of preparing students for the bar exam of any school in the state,” he said. “You are in such a stronger position than I was walking into that test. You are going to be OK…for those of you who don’t have something lined up, if you are applying anywhere in North Carolina, you have an advantage because Campbell Law is widely known and … it’s well regarded.”
Jackson added, “You just ran a three-year long marathon that fewer than half a percent of anyone in our country has ever run. You don’t need to worry about your place in this world, the world needs to worry about you. You’re going to crush it!!
Retiring Dean Emerita and Professor Melissa Essary, in her last official duty for the law school, hooded the graduates.
Find more photos of the ceremony on the law school’s Facebook page at this link and watch the graduation ceremony’s YouTube recording at this link.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, 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. Campbell Law boasts nearly 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2026, Campbell Law will celebrate 50 years of graduating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.
via Campbell University
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