At 51, Aimee Elaine Bickers is finally pursuing the dream she nearly followed almost 30 years ago . On the morning she was supposed to take the LSAT, she woke up, turned to her husband, and said, “I don’t want to do this.”
Fast forward to nearly three decades. After a long career in business and project management, she found her way back to that calling and into North Carolina Central University (NCCU) School of Law’s Evening Program, where she is now a December J.D. candidate.
For Bickers, there was only one choice.“I knew NCCU was the place for me,” she said. “The evening program made it possible. I applied to one other school only because my husband was considering relocating to Tennessee, but NCCU was home. It had to be here.”
Finding Her Legal Path
Coming into law school, Bickers envisioned working in civil practice. Having owned a business for ten years and spent 30 years as a project manager, the structure, discipline and strategy of business were second nature to her.
She excelled in contracts and property subjects that aligned seamlessly with her background and interests. After her first year, she pictured herself serving as in-house counsel while slowly building a firm of her own. Later, she discovered a new passion: wills, estates, and financial planning.
Over her 3.5 years in law school, one daughter got married and had a baby making Bickers a grandmother mid-semester and this December, both daughters will finish their undergraduate degrees, one from NC State University and one from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Her path expanded again in her third year when she joined the Civil Litigation Clinic.
“Those ten months of incredibly hard work shaped my future,” Bickers said. “I wouldn’t be where I am now without that class.”
The clinic, led by Senior Clinical Professor of Law Scott Holmes, gave her hands-on experience she hadn’t expected as an evening student and confirmed her commitment to litigation and client advocacy.
Building a Future, Guided By Experience
When Bickers lost her corporate job in 2025, the timing felt right. “ I knew it was time to open my firm,” she said.“I don’t have to learn how to run a business I’ve done that for years.”
After graduation, she plans to open a firm focused on providing fractional general counsel services to small businesses that cannot yet afford a full-time attorney, combining her business expertise with the legal calling she waited decades to answer.
The journey, she said, wasn’t easy. But the heart of her law school experience was the community she found in the evening cohort. “These 12 people are some of the best I’ve ever met,” she said. “We encouraged each other, pushed each other and walked through everything together. They know more about me than most people.”
Bickers envisions practicing general civil law with a specialization in supporting small businesses through fractional general counsel work. Still, she remains open to wherever her path may lead.
“I’ve worked in-house, in residential real estate, general civil and even criminal appeals. Each experience shaped who I am now. My vision can evolve, and I’m open to wherever life takes me.”