New LSAT Study Program Opens Pathway to Campbell Law

BUIES CREEK - Campbell University undergraduate students interested in pursuing a legal education now have a new opportunity to prepare for law school.

Thanks to a $100,000 commitment from Campbell Law alumni Marshall J. Frank, JD '84, and Peggy Harris Frank, JD '85, Campbell undergraduates now have access to resources designed to improve their Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) scores and strengthen their chances of attending Campbell Law.

"This generous gift from the Frank family could not have come at a better time," praised Campbell President Dr. William M. Downs. "One of our new strategic priorities is to attract more undergraduate students to Campbell by demonstrating to them the pathway they have to one of our world-class graduate or professional programs. By facilitating LSAT preparation and enhanced competitiveness for our own undergraduates, this initiative should help keep the best and brightest legal minds right here at Campbell."

The five-year commitment will support a new LSAT study program in partnership with Kaplan, providing Campbell undergrads with access to structured, high-quality test preparation. Facilitated by Dr. Cathy Cowling through the College of Arts and Sciences, the program is currently underway as part of a broader initiative to encourage more Campbell undergraduates to continue to Campbell Law.

"LSAT scores have been one of the things that have prevented our undergraduate students from going on to Campbell Law," Cowling said. "This course is designed to help improve those scores."

Within the program, students will meet online once a week with their instructors and work through LSAT study workbooks, review practice questions and track their progress through the course. The goal of the program is to help students become more comfortable with the exam and its format.

Beyond improving test performance, the program is also designed to reduce the anxiety that often surrounds taking the LSAT. Unlike typical exams, the LSAT tests skills and reasoning, which can feel intimidating for students without guided preparation.

"There's a lot of anxiety that surrounds the LSAT," Cowling said. "It's not a test of content. It's a test of your ability, and students have to get comfortable with the testing and trust themselves."

The program also advances Campbell Law's broader efforts to recruit, prepare and support future law students. "We are committed to increasing the number of our undergraduates who matriculate at the law school, and this is a bold step to make that happen," said Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard.

For the Franks, the decision to support the LSAT study program is rooted in their own experience at Campbell Law.

"Campbell Law is very near and dear to us," said Marshall Frank. "The legal education we received allowed us to have immediate success as graduates and parents, and I've seen firsthand how programs like Kaplan can better prepare students for major exams. Campbell University gave me my first opportunity to attend college, and I owe my career in the law to the preparation and support I received at Campbell."

The Franks met as students at Campbell Law while the school was still housed in Kivett Hall on Campbell's main campus in Buies Creek. They married shortly after graduating in 1986 and are celebrating nearly four decades as a couple.

Both Marshall and Peggy Frank went on to successful legal careers. Marshall practiced law privately in Blacksburg, Virginia while Peggy served as a prosecutor for many years with the Pulaski County and Montgomery County Commonwealth Attorney's Offices.

ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL

Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School 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 more than 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.