On Tuesday, September 15, 2009, the North Carolina Central University School of Law Board of Visitors (BOV) nominated and confirmed 11 new board members.

Members of the Board of Visitors provide advice and counsel to the dean, and serve as goodwill ambassadors for the School of Law. Most of the new members are esteemed alumni of the Law School. Raymond Pierce, dean of the NCCU School of Law is very pleased with this highly respected group of legal talent, and believes the new members will, “further strengthen the accomplished professional profile of the board.”

New BOV members in positions in public service are: Senator Eleanor “Ellie” G. Kinnaird ’92, North Carolina State Senate; Jay J. Chaudhuri ’99, General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Department of the Treasury; Dorothy C. Bernholz ’75, Director and Staff Attorney at Carolina Student Legal Services, Inc. at UNC Chapel Hill, N.C.; Pamela Thorpe Young ’85, Chair of the North Carolina Industrial Commission; and Donna Douglas ’84, Attorney for the Office of Chief Counsel, Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C.

New BOV members from the judiciary include Judge Herbert L. Richardson ’76, Senior District Court Judge of Robeson County; North Carolina and Judge Wanda G. Bryant ’82, North Carolina Court of Appeals.

The new BOV members in law practices include attorneys: Leonard T. Jernigan ’76, Jernigan Law Firm, Raleigh, N.C.; Mark D. Locklear ‘96, partner with the Law Firm of Locklear, Jacobs, Brooks, and Hunt, Lumberton, N.C.; Joseph A. Williams ’75, Joe Williams and Associates, Greensboro, N.C.; and Geoffrey H. Simmons ’77, Duke Law School, Simmons Law Firm, Raleigh, N.C.

North Carolina Central University School of Law was established in 1939 by the North Carolina General Assembly to provide African-Americans with an opportunity for a legal education. The NCCU School of Law was recently ranked as the No. 1 Best Value Law School in the Nation. The ranking by the National Jurist Magazine is based on affordability, bar passage rate and job placement.