Adrienne Meddock assistant dean for evening program at North Carolina Central University.

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Adrienne Meddock: Assistant Dean for the Evening
Program and Visiting Assistant Professor at North
Carolina Central University School of Law, Durham, NC
[By Jen Woods]
Adrienne Meddock, a former member of two alternative bands and at one time an aspiring architect, is now the Assistant Dean
for the Evening Program at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) School of Law.
Meddock toured with an 80s punk band, “The trademark infringement and copyright “I teach in the evening and late afternoons,
Beef People,” and she was a vocalist for issues that came up for the band became in what we call ‘the swing hour,’ a time
“Bloom” from 1990 to 1992. But she knew more intriguing than learning new songs, it when students from the full- and part-time
right away that playing music and booking was time to stop fighting it and accept my programs take electives,” she said.
bands wouldn’t pay the bills. “Booking was calling,” she said.
self-supporting, but the band was always The school’s Evening Program is designed for
another hungry mouth,” she said. Meddock earned her J.D. degree at NCCU people who want to earn law degrees while
and accepted a full-time position at the working full-time. Evening students come
As she began considering different school just days after she passed the bar from many professional fields, including
professions, law originally wasn’t of much exam in 1991. “I had originally thought I’d academia, medicine, scientific research, law
interest to her, although she always knew work here for a few years while building my enforcement, and government.
she would make a successful lawyer. “I had entertainment law practice, but I fell in love
felt that the law was sort of an obvious field with working with students and gradually The Evening Program presents unique
for me, since my writing and speaking skills stopped practicing,” she said. challenges to professors. “One of the most
favored that career, but I definitely ran from frustrating things about working with the
it,” Meddock said. Meddock is also a visiting assistant professor Evening Program is the outside influences on
at the school, teaching global intellectual the students and program over which none
Meddock decided to pursue a career that property, intellectual property (IP), relational of us has much control,” she said. Many of
would make use of her creative ambitions, injuries, legal writing, and entertainment law Meddock’s students have had to drop out of
and she enrolled in an architecture graduate to students enrolled in the Evening Program. the program because of major life changes. “It
program. However, after one semester of is always a challenge to accept that there are
school, she realized the field of architecture some things beyond your control,” she said.
was not a match for her. She found that her Advice to Young Lawyers:
desire to create far surpassed her talent. She Many of the techniques that practicing
also wasn’t as serious and passionate about “Students should think about teaching lawyers use are applicable to the teaching
the program as most of her peers were. at all levels as a good preparation for profession, Meddock said. Lawyers need to
becoming professors,” said Meddock, who be able to see problems from the client’s
“I was the youngest and probably the most tutored students while she attended law point of view, in the same way that professors
dilettantish of the group. By the end of the school. need to be able to see problems from the
semester, I vowed I wouldn’t return to school student’s point of view. Both lawyers and
until I felt about a subject the way my fellow “While there will always be a need for the professors need to be able to explain complex
architecture program students felt about theoretician who churns out thoughtful information clearly and concisely in order to
that subject. Several folks had given up on publications, teachers who teach members effectively engage their audiences.
careers and made real sacrifices to join that of the community, fellow attorneys,
program,” she said. undergraduates, and even community Meddock’s favorite course to teach is
college students are invaluable. Teach relational injuries because “the torts tend
Meddock eventually started to take an where you can and who you can to see to fill the gaps between traditional first-year
interest in the law, as she continued booking if you have the gift of being able to help areas of law and provide remedies for harms
bands and playing music. “I knew that when students learn,” she said. to a[n] […] unusual range of interests,” she
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THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
LAW STAR www.lawcrossing.com 1. 800.973.1177
said. “You have to love a class whose subject grasp concepts in class and then put those former co-chair of the North Carolina Bar
matter spans the very different topics of ideas into practice as a lawyer,” Meddock said. Association’s Art and the Law Committee.
defamation, alienation of affections, and
unfair competition,” she added. Meddock is also the advisor for the ON THE NET
Trademark Moot Court, Intellectual Property
Meddock said it is rewarding to see her Law Society, and Sports and Entertainment North Carolina Central University School of
students develop into critical thinkers. “Plus, Law Society at NCCU. Law
working with the non-traditional population www.nccu.edu/law/index.html
in the Evening Program, you see folks make Meddock is a member of the North Carolina
drastic changes in their lives,” she added. For State Bar and the South Carolina State The North Carolina State Bar
instance, one of Meddock’s students started Bar. She is on the board of directors of www.ncbar.com
off as a paralegal in a small law firm. Now she the Triangle Intellectual Property Law
is a partner at one of the largest firms in North Association. She is also a former Volunteer Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Carolina. “It is rewarding to see a student Lawyers for the Arts board member and the www.vlany.org
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