Four new full-time teaching faculty at Elon Law’s campus in Greensboro and the Flex Program in Charlotte will lead in areas of legal writing and research, torts, wills and estates, and business law.
Elon University School of Law welcomes four new members to its full-time faculty this fall, bringing rich legal and teaching experience to programs in Greensboro and Charlotte.
At the Greensboro campus, Assistant Professor of Law Shilanka Lewis will teach torts and wills and estates, while Assistant Professor of Law Chelsea Millington will lead courses in contracts.
In the Elon Law Flex Program, hosted at Elon University’s Charlotte center, Visiting Professor of Law Aimee Durant and Assistant Professor of Law Pam Hollern will teach legal research and writing through the foundational series of Legal Method and Communication (LMC) courses.
Each brings enthusiasm for engaged learning and practical training beyond legal theory that Elon Law is known for.
“Great teaching is at the core of what we do at Elon Law,” said Dean Zak Kramer. “These four new faculty members bring energy and a commitment to engaged learning. Their experience in practice and scholarship will enrich the classroom, guide our students and prepare them with the professional skills to be practice ready.”
Aimee Durant
Assistant Professor of Law
Aimee Durant joined Elon Law last winter and is teaching Legal Method and Communication (LMC) along with the introductory course of study and practice of law to Flex Program students in Charlotte. She earned a law degree from Wake Forest University in 2015 and a degree in sociology from Clemson University. After six years practicing family law in Charlotte, she shifted to public service with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, where she served as senior counsel on the Justice System Reform Team.
Durant always felt drawn to teaching, noting that her favorite aspect of practicing law was the initial meeting with clients, “explaining the law and showing how it impacted their lives,” she said. Today, she applies that passion to training students in the art and skill of legal writing, from objective analysis to persuasive advocacy.
“The students in Charlotte are so motivated and really driven to be there,” Durant said. She finds the “a-ha” moments in the classroom especially rewarding. “When students come with questions and we discuss them, and then it clicks: You see it in their writing afterward.”
Durant lives in Charlotte with her young daughter. She enjoys gardening, paddleboarding, and the outdoors, and she’s excited to continue refining her LMC courses as she works with incoming Flex Program cohorts.
Pam Hollern
Assistant Professor of Law
Pamela Hollern brings a rich blend of practice, teaching and legal technology experience to the Elon Law Flex Program in Charlotte. A graduate of Northwestern University and cum laude alumna of Arizona State University’s College of Law, she has practiced commercial litigation in Phoenix, Cleveland, and Greensboro, and also trained large law firms’ attorneys in legal research. She most recently served as program director and associate professor of Paralegal and Legal Studies at Guilford Technical Community College.
At Elon, Hollern will teach Legal Method and Communication (LMC) courses, which are foundational to legal practice and research. “No matter what field of law you practice, written and oral communication skills are the most important. They’re essential everywhere,” she said.
Hollern was drawn to Elon Law’s mission of experiential learning, which aligns with her own approach to hands-on teaching. Students in her classes frequently practice drafting legal documents and researching case law in real-world scenarios common to a variety of fields.
She looks forward to building close relationships with her students and to watch how Elon makes its mark in the Queen City. “One of the things I’m excited about is the newness of Elon here. There’s so much potential in this market, and it’s exciting to be on the ground floor of that growth and to get involved with the greater Charlotte community.”
Hollern is an avid reader who always has several books in progress. She enjoys hiking, traveling, and exploring new restaurants. She and her husband have two daughters, a senior in high school and a junior in college. They live in Jamestown, North Carolina, with their two dogs and two cats.
Shilanka Lewis
Assistant Professor of Law
Shilanka Lewis enters her first year on the full-time faculty at Elon Law after joining as a visiting professor in 2024-25. This academic year, she will teach torts along with wills and trusts, drawing on more than a decade of practice experience in personal injury, family law, small business matters, real estate and estate planning.
A first-generation college student, Lewis says a debate class in college sparked her interest in the law and set her on the path to becoming both an attorney and an educator. Lewis graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2012 after earning a degree in finance at UNC-Greensboro. Before entering law school, she was employed by Fidelity Investments and RBC Wealth Management. Following law school, she worked for several years at a small law firm. In 2020, she launched her own practice. Her scholarship around racial disparities in wealth combines her financial and legal experience.
Teaching has long been a goal for Lewis as she honed her skills through private practice, and she is pleased to be part of Elon Law’s teaching-focused faculty.
“I enjoy seeing students progress as they find their way in the legal profession,” she said. “Being there to be a mentor and support to students by being available outside the classroom is important to me. I’m excited to see how a new generation of lawyers will transform the legal profession.”
Lewis now balances her academic work with family life, cheering on her three daughters at basketball, cheerleading, and softball events. They live in Mebane, North Carolina.
Chelsea Millington
Assistant Professor of Law
Chelsea Millington comes to Elon Law from the University of Maryland, where she taught for four years as part of the Murray Teaching Fellowship program. She previously clerked for a U.S. District Court judge before practicing in general commercial litigation with a focus on intellectual property and contracts.
At Elon, she will teach first-year contracts in the winter trimester and business drafting in the spring. Her courses are highly practical: Students will negotiate, draft, and mark up contracts, and simulate advising clients on new business ventures.
“I’ve always tailored my courses to not just be lectures but to give students practice with the real work lawyers do,” Millington said. She appreciates that Elon Law values the kind of practical teaching she plans to bring into the classroom.
Joining Elon Law’s faculty represents a homecoming of sorts for Millington: her husband, Nicholas Millington, is a 2012 Elon University graduate and recently became the director of compliance for Elon Athletics. Millington earned her undergraduate and law degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill and is happy to be back home in North Carolina. They live in Greensboro with their two daughters and two large dogs. “We love exploring local parks,” she said, adding that they are eager to settle back into family life closer to their roots.