Campbell Law’s Niya Fonville works to improve pretrial justice in Wake County

A member of Campbell Law School’s administration has been chosen to serve on Wake County’s year-long program to implement pretrial justice improvements. 

Director of Externships Niya Fonville was selected to represent Campbell Law School and the Wake County Bar Association (WCBA) on the new Wake County steering committee. The committee will work to implement the Public Safety Assessment and recommend other pretrial reforms throughout the county.

The Public Safety Assessment is a nationally validated model that uses nine research-based factors to predict the likelihood a certain person will appear in court and stay out of trouble if released before trial. 

Prior to joining Campbell Law, Fonville worked for more than a decade with Legal Aid of North Carolina where she served as a supervising attorney and a staff attorney helping some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens at times of greatest need. She was recently elected to the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA)’s Board of Governors, served as the past co-chair of the NCBA Minorities in the Profession Committee and was a 2019 recipient of the NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award. 

Fonville also recently joined the Raleigh Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. In addition, Fonville chairs the WCBA Committee for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and is a member of the N.C. Equal Access to Justice Foundation Board, WCBA Board of Directors, WCBA Public Service Committee, the Capital City Lawyers Association, the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers and the NCBA’s Pro Bono committee. She earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from Salem College and her JD from the University of Miami School of Law. 

More information about Fonville and Wake County’s new program can be found at the following link.