Campbell Law’s Tracy Harris ’26 has article published about African clerkship in Rwanda

RALEIGH - Campbell Law School's Tracy Harris '26 has published an article in the JURIST about her experience serving as a judicial clerk with the Supreme Court of Namibia this past summer.

The article, "Namibia dispatch: Supreme Court builds precedent, US clerkship pipeline completes first cohort," was published on Oct. 7. Harris, who is a JURIST contributor and a third-year law student set to graduate in December, served as a judicial clerk to the Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Namibia during the summer of 2026 as part of the inaugural Joseph E. Zaytoun International Judicial Clerkship Initiative.

Harris' article begins, "This summer, the inaugural cohort of the Joseph E. Zaytoun International Judicial Clerkship Initiative completed eight-week placements in the chambers of the Supreme Court of Namibia, alongside sister placements in Ghana and Rwanda. The program, built by Campbell Law School Dean J. Rich Leonard on three decades of judicial-reform work across the continent, was named a 2026 Excellence in Innovation Award recipient by Insight Into Academia earlier this summer. The placements were its first real-world test: American law students working directly under sitting justices, including Deputy Chief Justice Petrus Damaseb and Lady Justice Esi Schimming-Chase, the first woman appointed as a permanent justice on Namibia's apex court.

"For an international audience, the significance is not simply that a U.S. law school placed students abroad. It is what those students walked into: a constitutional court still actively deciding what its own body of precedent is, 35 years after independence," Harris writes.

"Namibia's 1990 Constitution created a Supreme Court that inherited, but was never meant to remain bound by, the Roman-Dutch common law and South African case law that governed the territory under apartheid-era administration. In the years since, the Court has been engaged in what Damaseb has himself described in his scholarship as an incremental dissociation from South African authority-a deliberate, case-by-case process of building a jurisprudence rooted in Namibia's own constitutional text rather than in decisions imported from a legal system designed to serve other interests. The working research rule inside the Court's chambers reflects that project directly: Namibian authority is consulted first and always; South African case law is persuasive only, reached for solely when no Namibian precedent exists," Harris' article continues.

The original article can be found at this link.

Prior to pursuing her JD, Harris has more than 15 years experience working in the C-suites of global nonprofits and research institutions, including global health, scientific research, executive search and social justice advocacy, solving complex legal and business challenges.

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 educating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina's Capital City.

The JURIST, a collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, is a non-profit news organization that highlights rule-of-law issues around the globe and empowers tomorrow's legal leaders. The publication aims to harness the collective power of law students worldwide to serve a dual purpose: to inform the global community about critical rule of law issues in clear, accessible language; and to cultivate a generation of service-oriented legal professionals dedicated to shaping a more just world. "Through our non-commercial, independent platform, we engage over 100 law student reporters, editors and contributors spanning 25 countries, delivering timely and comprehensive coverage of legal developments without barriers to access. Upholding the principles of objectivity and editorial neutrality, we prioritize accuracy and fairness in our reporting, ensuring that our audience receives primary resources and nuanced expert opinions to help them form their own informed opinions. In the process, we endeavor to equip bright young legal minds with the knowledge and skills to become agents of positive change, bridging borders and ideologies to promote transparency, accountability, and justice for all."