175 Years of Carolina Law Excellence

By Melissa M. Hyland ’13 Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, Reference and Faculty Research Services Librarian

The University of North Carolina School of Law celebrates its 175th anniversary during the 2019-2020 academic year. Since opening its doors in 1845, Carolina Law has played an integral role in shaping the history and progress of North Carolina. The stories of our alumni, faculty, staff, and students bear this out. While it is impossible to tell the full story of Carolina Law in a single article, this piece will focus on many of the highlights in the institution’s 175-year history.

A LAW PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA In 1845, William H. Battle taught the University’s first law class in “one little room 16 by 18 feet, furnished with half [a] dozen split-bottom chairs” (Coates, 1946).

As the first professor of law at the University of North Carolina, Battle designed a curriculum for his students that drew from the best traditions of the legal apprenticeship system and included courses that would prepare students for legal practice in the state of North Carolina. In addition to studying the traditional legal texts, students also learned about North Carolina statutory law and the decisions of the state

PHOTO CREDIT: NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY AT CHAPEL HILL

courts, held moot courts, drafted pleadings and other legal instruments, and received instruction “in the practice of the courts” (Coates, 1946). This curriculum proved effective, with later UNC President Kemp P. Battle reflecting that students under his father’s tutelage “made a far better showing [in the bar examination] before the Supreme Court than those who had read the law under the general supervision of a lawyer and thought they understood it, but had never been called on to tell what they know” (Battle, 1907).

The University of North Carolina joined a small number of universities in pioneering the development of the American law school, and indeed UNC remained the only university in North Carolina to offer training for lawyers until long after the Civil War. The law program grew at a steady pace under Battle’s management during those early years, with

Important Figures in Carolina Law History MARGARET BERRY STREET graduated in 1915, the first woman to complete her law degree at Carolina Law. On September 8, 1915, Berry was formally admitted to the bar in Hillsborough. She went on to practice civil litigation in Charlotte from 1917-1933, served as an attorney for the Home Owners Loan Corporation from 1933-37, and worked on the presidential campaigns of Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt. She formally retired from legal practice in 1943, but she continued to be an active presence in North Carolina’s legal community, running for the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1954 and serving as the State National Defense Chairman from 1958-61.

ten students registered in 1847-48 and growing to a peak of twenty-eight students in 1857-58. While the University remained opened during the Civil War, it was closed in 1868 and did not fully reopen to students until 1877. Despite this setback, the success of this new law program was never truly in doubt.

John Manning assumed the professorship of law in 1881 and served as the principal instructor until his passing in 1899. During his tenure, Manning secured official status for the program’s LLB degree and ensured that the law program was an established department at the University.

As the law program grew, so did the need for more physical space. During much of Manning’s tenure, the law program was based out of one room in the Old West Building that seated about fifty students. In 1901, under the leadership of Dean James C. MacRae, the program moved to a larger room in South Building, and then finally secured the entirety of the Smith Building a few years later.

The law library also grew by leaps and bounds during this period. Following the death of Professor Manning in 1899, his wife donated his personal collection of over 2,000 law books to the school. A few years later, in 1907, alumni gave a fund of $5,000 to formally create the John Manning Memorial Law Library.

By the close of the 19th century, Carolina Law held a secure place within the larger university, continued to attract larger numbers of students each year, and played an increasingly important role in training the lawyers who would go on to shape the legal future of the state.

CAROLINA LAW RISES TO MEET A CHANGING WORLD The early 20th century brought with it many changes, but none perhaps more exciting than the arrival of the first women law students to Carolina Law. In 1911, Lillian Rowe Frye stepped through the doors of

the Smith Building, having earned the distinction of being the first woman to gain admission to the law school. Though she did not graduate (a degree was not required at that time for admission to the bar), she became only the second woman to pass the North Carolina bar examination in 1911. The first woman to finish with a degree from the law school was Margaret Berry Street, who graduated from Carolina Law in 1915.

World War I changed the world in innumerable ways, and the reverberations of that war and the resulting economic and industrial boom in the United States carried important implications for law schools. By 1920, Carolina Law faculty realized that the next generation of lawyers needed more expansive legal training to be prepared for practice in post-WWI America. To meet these challenges, Dean Lucius P. McGehee spearheaded major reforms to the school’s curriculum. In addition to moving the faculty towards the case method of instruction, he also introduced a three-year curriculum inaugurated at Harvard Law School in the 1870's – a move that brought the school into line with the other leading schools of the American Bar Association. The North Carolina Law Review was also founded in 1922.

With the booming economy of the Roaring Twenties in full swing, Dean McGehee also seized on the opportunity to expand the law school’s physical space. In 1923, the school moved into the newly constructed Manning Hall, which had “ample space for faculty offices, classrooms, student study spaces, and a fully-stocked law library” (Elliott, 1946). The law school remained in Manning Hall until 1968.

PHOTO CREDIT: PORTRAIT COLLECTION, NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES, WILSON LIBRARY, UNC-CHAPEL HILL

KATHRINE R. EVERETT graduated from Carolina Law in 1920, the first year in which two women graduated from the law school. She was first in the class and also achieved the highest score on the bar examination that year. North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Walter Clark commented that her paper was “not only the best that year, but also one of the best that had ever been submitted” (Colin & Roundtree, 2004). Everett enjoyed a successful law practice for many years, becoming the second woman to ever argue and win a case before the Supreme Court of North Carolina. In 1951, she ran for a seat on the Durham City Council and become one of the first women to serve on the council, a position she held until 1 971. Amazingly, she continued to practice law until the age of 90! Today, the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library is named in her honor.

1940 vs. 1943: With the arrival of World War II, the school experienced a significant drop in enrollment. PHOTO CREDIT: SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, KATHRINE R. EVERETT LAW LIBRARY, SCHOOL OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY AT CHAPEL HILL

students and several faculty members enlisted for military service. By 1943, 13 students were enrolled at the law school, and only Dean Robert H. Wettach and three faculty members were left to keep the school operating.

Following the U.S. victory in WWII, soldiers returned home with new opportunities to pursue postsecondary education, and Carolina Law opened its doors to a wider group of students than at any time in its history.

THE POSTWAR YEARS: INTEGRATION ENRICHES THE FABRIC OF CAROLINA LAW The postwar era saw a sharp rise in enrollment at Carolina Law, with enrollment numbers reaching an all-time high of 288 students in 1949. In response to this jump in enrollment, the North Carolina General Assembly granted an appropriation to add an addition to Manning Hall that would effectively double the size of the building.

In 1948, the first group of law school students who enrolled following the end of World War II graduated from Carolina Law. The Class of 1948 contained some of the most prominent future leaders of both North Carolina and the nation, including James Dickson

Phillips Jr., who would eventually serve as dean of Carolina Law and lead the law school through the turbulent years of the Vietnam War. It also included William B. Aycock, UNC chancellor and law professor; William C. Friday, president of the UNC System, and John Jordan Jr., a state senator.

The year 1951 was a monumental year in the history of both Carolina Law and the University at large. In that year, five black men integrated the University on the heels of their victory in McKissick v. Carmichael, the case that removed the legal barrier to admission for black students at Carolina Law. Floyd McKissick, Harvey Beech, J. Kenneth Lee, James Robert Walker, Jr., and James L. Lassiter enrolled in classes at the law school that summer and paved the way for other minority students to attend Carolina Law in the future. After arriving at UNC, they had to adjust to life at a highly competitive law school, while also facing racial bias and animosity from both students and university staff alike.

For a detailed account of their heroic efforts to integrate Carolina Law and their later careers in a variety of settings, be sure to read Donna Nixon’s article, “The Integration of UNC-Chapel Hill – Law School First,” recently published in the 97th volume of the North Carolina Law Review.

HARVEY E. BEECH was one of the first African American students to integrate the University and Carolina Law. After initially being denied admission to Carolina Law, he intervened in the ongoing McKissick v. Carmichael case in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. After the case was decided in favor of Beech and the other claimants, he enrolled in the summer session at Carolina Law in 1951. Despite facing years of racial discrimination and exclusion from housing, the classroom, and recreational facilities at the University, Beech persevered and graduated from Carolina Law in 1952. He was the first African American man to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Following a year of practice in Durham, Beech returned home to Kinston, North Carolina, where he practiced law for thirty-eight years. During his many years in practice, he was known for his generosity and commitment to his local community. He served as the first African American member on the Kinston Board of Education, and he also served as the first African American trustee of Eastern Carolina University.

Throughout the 1950s, law school alumni worked to develop organizations that would ensure the continued growth of Carolina Law in the coming decades. The Law Alumni Association was formed in 1952, with Dean Henry P. Brandis Jr. commenting that the date of its founding was “potentially one of the most significant dates in the 107 years of Law School history for the purpose of contributing to the sound future of the Law School” (Coates, 1968). Five years later, alumni also created the Law Foundation to direct charitable giving. Today the UNC Law Foundation is responsible for supporting endowment funds, fellowships, and scholarships for the benefit of the law school.

Another important milestone for Carolina Law occurred in 1955, when the law faculty welcomed its first female professor, Mary Oliver. She served as both law librarian and assistant professor of paw, and under her leadership the law library nearly doubled the size of its collection to over 97,000 volumes by 1964. Currently, the law library holds more than 1.4 million titles, including both print and digital collections.

CAROLINA LAW MODERNIZES AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT REACHES NEW HEIGHTS During the 1960s and 70s, Carolina Law took on many of the characteristics that students today would recognize. Student engagement opportunities rapidly expanded during this period with many new student-led organizations and activities. The Holderness Moot Court Bench launched in 1966 and held the first annual J. Braxton Craven Jr. Memorial Moot Court competition two years later. The first law school clinics also opened during this period. The Law Center, a service in which law students provided research assistance to the North Carolina General Assembly, opened in 1973, and the Prisoner Legal Assistance Clinic launched in 1978.

Smith Hall 1907-1923

Manning Hall 1923-1968

Old West 1877

South Building 1902-1907

Rotunda addition to Van HeckeWettach Hall 1999

PHOTO CREDITS: NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY AT CHAPEL HILL

JUDGE JAMES DICKSON PHILLIPS JR. graduated from Carolina Law in 1948, among the first group of graduates who entered the law school following World War II. For the next decade, he entered private practice around Fayetteville before joining the faculty at Carolina Law in 1959. He was appointed to the deanship of the law school in 1964 and served in that role for ten years. During his tenure as dean, he supervised the appropriation of funds for a Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, the law school’s permanent home which opened for students in 1968. He also actively supported the growth and diversification of the student body, with the number of enrolled African American students climbing from one in 1964 to 23 by 1974 and the number of women jumping from 10 in 1964 to 121 by the end of his tenure. For the next 40 years, the median size of the school was 735 students.

On July 20, 1978, Judge Phillips was nominated to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by President Carter. He was confirmed one month later and served on the court for more than twenty years.

The law faculty also diversified during this period, with Professor Harry Groves becoming the first African American to teach at the law school during its summer session in 1970. Two years later, Charles E. Daye joined the school as its first African American tenure-track faculty member. Of his first years at Carolina Law, Daye would remember, “I came into an environment where the law school had already made this commitment to diversity. I was nurtured, helped and accepted in every conceivable way, and that has made all the difference” (UNC General Alumni Assoc., 2004). During his tenure at the law school, Daye worked to improve the diversity of both the faculty and student body at Carolina Law. He led the law school’s special Admissions Policy Committee and the university-wide Affirmative Action Advisory Committee.

The law school also continued to expand both physically and in its continued tradition of academic excellence. In 1967, the juris doctor (J.D.) was adopted as the primary professional degree granted by the law school. One year later, the law school moved into its current home at Van Hecke-Wettach Hall. The dedicatory address for the building was given by the Honorable Earl Warren, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.

THE CAROLINA LAW OF TODAY In 1989, the law school appointed its first female dean, Judith Wegner, who served in that position for a decade. During her tenure, the law school would see increased diversity in its faculty and student body, a significant expansion to Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, and

more innovation and expansion of the law school curriculum and student opportunities.

Today’s students at Carolina Law are more active in the life of the law school than ever before, with opportunities to learn and hone their legal skills abounding. A law faculty of 65 offer more than 130 courses, and students are invited to participate in the work of six centers, nine clinics, five student-edited journals, and 15 moot court teams. With over 44 student organizations, students are more active than ever in the life of the school. Students also carry on the public interest tradition of the school by raising funds for summer public interest work through the Carolina Public Interest Law Organization and a robust pro bono program that enjoyed a 100% participation rate from the Classes of 2018 and 2019.

After students leave Carolina Law to enter legal practice, they continue to excel and positively impact their communities. Carolina Law alumni are currently well represented on various courts: 19 are federal judges, 12 are North Carolina state court judges, and 11 are judges of other state courts. Over the course of its history, the law school has also produced 14 North Carolina governors, two UNC chancellors, three UNC System leaders, legislators—too many to count, and 40 members of Congress representing the state of North Carolina. Thousands of Carolina Law alumni have also entered both private practice and public service positions across the country, working to shape the future of American law.

Carolina Law’s history is alive with the dedication, struggles, and triumphs of its thousands of alumni. As Dean Martin H. Brinkley '92 noted, “We move forward together, learning from our shared history and prepared to take hold of the many opportunities and challenges the future will bring.”

PHOTO CREDIT: J. E. SHEPARD MEMORIAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, RECORDS AND HISTORY CENTER, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY /THE NCCU FACULTY AND STAFF PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION (1910-2005)

JULIUS LEVONNE CHAMBERS graduated at the top of his class from Carolina Law in 1962 and served as the first African American editor-in-chief of the North Carolina Law Review. Chambers would go on to a successful career in civil rights law, litigating a number of cases before the Supreme Court of the United States – including Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. He also spent many years working for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, handling cases in education, voting rights, capital punishment, employment, and housing. In his later years, he served as a clinical professor of law and the founder and director of Carolina Law’s Center for Civil Rights.

SUSIE M. SHARP graduated from Carolina Law in 1929. After serving as the city attorney for Reidsville, she was appointed to North Carolina’s Superior Court in 1949, the first woman to ever hold such a position in North Carolina. In 1962, she claimed another important first for women attorneys when she was appointed as an associate justice to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. In 1974, she decided to run for election as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, another historic first for a woman in the state. She handily won that election with a resounding 74% of the vote. In winning that election, Sharp became the first woman in the nation’s history to be elected to the highest position on a state supreme court. Susie M. Sharp served for over thirty years as both a trial and appellate court judge in North Carolina.

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