Raleigh is the largest state capital in the country without a law school. The woman leading the charge to change that is Dean Melissa Essary.

Melissa Essary, Dean of Campbell University’s School of Law, spoke to the Harvard Club about leadership in times of change and the law school’s pending move this fall from Buies Creek, North Carolina to downtown Raleigh. This fascinating talk was given at a gathering of Harvard alumni and friends over wine and hors d’oeuvres at Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton – one of the Triangle’s leading law firms.

Longtime board member and former Schools Chairman Sam Wyrick (Harvard BA ’66, Duke JD ’69) generously offered his law firm as a gathering space.

Melissa Essary is the fourth Dean of Campbell University’s School of Law – a position she has held since August 2006.

Essary is a 1982 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied journalism, and a 1985 magna cum laude graduate of the Baylor University School of Law. While studying at Baylor Law in Waco, Texas, Essary served as Executive Editor of the Baylor Law Review.

Following graduation, she served as a trial lawyer for two Texas firms, most notably the Vinson and Elkins firm of Dallas, where she litigated complex commercial cases.

In 1990, Essary joined the faculty at Baylor Law, where for 16 years she taught courses primarily in Employment Discrimination Law and Torts Law. She garnered Baylor’s Outstanding Tenured Teacher Award in 2001.

She has authored numerous articles, and in 1997, the Texas Bar Foundation awarded her the Outstanding Law Journal Article Award for a series of articles entitled “Privacy in the Workplace.”

She is a widely requested speaker on employment issues by a variety of groups, including attorneys, human resources professionals, and business executives. She has presented numerous papers on employment law issues to hundreds of employment law attorneys. She also has served as a mediator in employment issues.

Essary serves on the boards of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Raleigh Alliance, and the Cardinal Club. She also serves as a Vice President of the Board of Governors of the North Carolina Bar Association.

Essary was recognized several times in 2008 by N.C. Business Leader media, including awards as a Triangle Area Woman Extraordinaire, Business Impact Leader, and Education Impact Leader.