Professor Timothy Zinnecker receives 2026 Law Dean’s Excellence Award

RALEIGH - Professor Timothy R. Zinnecker is the Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law recipient of the Dean's Excellence Award for 2026, Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced.

A tenured professor at Campbell Law since 2011 and former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from January 2012 through June 2017, Zinnecker has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to teaching core commercial law subjects - most notably in Secured Transactions, which he teaches every semester, often in multiple sections.

"Professor Timothy R. Zinnecker exemplifies sustained excellence in legal education," Leonard states. "His consistent recognition by students, including multiple 'Professor of the Year' honors and the Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award, reflects his ability to make complex statutory frameworks accessible, engaging and intellectually compelling, His pedagogy of structured reasoning, practical hypotheticals and disciplined analytical methods equips students to master doctrine and think like sophisticated commercial lawyers."

Beyond the classroom, Zinnecker's contributions to legal scholarship and institutional service further highlight his success.

He is an author of leading teaching materials and treatises in payment systems and secured transactions, including multiple editions of widely used Q&A series and casebooks that have shaped how these subjects are taught nationwide. His scholarly work demonstrates both technical mastery and pedagogical innovation, particularly in advancing deductive reasoning as a tool for understanding the Uniform Commercial Code.

At the law school, his service spans critical committees from curriculum and academic standards to faculty hiring and promotion.

"Taken together, his teaching excellence, scholarly influence and sustained service make Professor Zinnecker a valued faculty member and a deserving recipient of this recognition," Leonard says.

Zinnecker has been teaching and writing in the field of commercial law since 1994. Prior to joining the Campbell Law faculty, he was a tenured professor at South Texas College of Law. He has been a visiting professor at Samford University, Florida State University, the University of Richmond and the University of Houston.

He has had articles published in the Saint Louis University Law Journal, Wayne Law Review, Chapman Law Review, Gonzaga Law Review, Tennessee Law Review, Arizona State Law Review, University of Kansas Law Review, Mercer Law Review and the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Journal of Legal Education among others.

Zinnecker is an honors graduate of Brigham Young University's law school, where he served on the management board of the law review and became a member of the Order of the Coif.

Following graduation, he served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Frank X. Gordon (Arizona Supreme Court) and the Honorable Edith H. Jones (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit). He then worked for five years in the financial services department of a large Texas firm, primarily drafting and negotiating syndicated loan transactions.

Zinnecker is a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. He enjoys reading (mostly fiction) and playing the piano (sacred/gospel). One of his favorite scripture verses is found in Job 42:2, "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted."

ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL

Since its founding in 1986, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation's top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation's best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts nearly 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2026, Campbell Law is celebrating 50 years of graduating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina's Capital City.

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