Niya Fonville Swint

Biography

Niya Fonville Swint serves as the Director of Externships at Campbell Law School. While she joined the university in 2018 as associate director of the Career and Professional Development Center, in her current role, she is charged with overseeing the teaching and administration of the law school’s robust externship program throughout the year — fall, spring and summer terms. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member in this capacity.

A self-proclaimed social justice warrior, prior to joining Campbell Law, Fonville worked for more than a decade with Legal Aid of North Carolina, where she was supervising attorney and staff attorney, helping some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens at times of greatest need.

In June 2020, Fonville was elected to the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA)’s Board of Governors. She is a past co-chair of the NCBA Minorities in the Profession Committee and is a 2019 recipient of the NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award.

Fonville also chairs the Wake County Bar Association’s (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. In August 2020, Raleigh mayor, Mary-Ann Baldwin, appointed Fonville to the Raleigh Housing Authority Board, where she will serve a 5-year term as a commissioner.

In addition to her professional duties, Fonville has volunteered as a mentor with numerous law schools, helping to prepare students for their careers and serving their communities.

Fonville, a native of New Bern, graduated summa cum laude from Salem College (receiving its 2020 Young Alumna Award) and is a cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law. An avid reader, she has committed much of her time to ensure all children within our community can have the opportunity to read and foster a love of books. She volunteers weekly with Read and Feed and hopes to one day operate her own Book Mobile.

MOTTO: “Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.” –Marian Wright Edelman, Founder, Children’s Defense Fund