Barbara Jackson (born December 25, 1961) is an American attorney and jurist who was elected in 2010 to an eight-year term on the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

. Jackson moved to Wake County at the age of 3 and graduated

Athens Drive High School Athens Drive Magnet High School, formerly known as Athens Drive High School, is a secondary Wake County public high school in southwestern Raleigh, North Carolina that serves grades 9–12. As of 2020–2021, the school has 2,075 enrolled ...

in 1980. Jackson, an alumna of the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

(bachelor's degree, 1984; J.D. degree, 1990) and

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

(LL.M. 2014), has worked as a legal counsel for the state of North Carolina for most of her legal career, working in the office of Governor

James G. Martin James Grubbs Martin (born December 11, 1935) is an American organic chemist and politician who served as the List of Governors of North Carolina, 70th governor of North Carolina from 1985 to 1993. He was the third Republican elected to the of ...

(1991–1992), as an advocate for persons with disabilities (1992–1996), and as General Counsel to the North Carolina Department of Labor (2001–2004). In 2004, Jackson was elected to an eight-year term on the

North Carolina Court of Appeals The North Carolina Court of Appeals (in case citation, N.C. Ct. App.) is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating panels of three. The Court of Appeals was created ...

, defeating incumbent judge

Alan Thornburg Alan Z. Thornburg (born January 10, 1967) is an American lawyer and jurist, formerly a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Born in Sylva, North Carolina, Thornburg earned a history degree from Davidson College in 1989 and a Juris Doctor ...

in the statewide judicial elections. In 2010, Jackson was elected to a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court that had been held by

Edward Thomas Brady Edward Thomas Brady (born November 1, 1943) is an Americans, American trial attorney and former associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He was 2002 North Carolina judicial elections, elected in November 2002 as a Republican, defeat ...

, who did not run for re-election. She defeated Robert C. Hunter, a colleague on the court of appeals, in the statewide judicial elections to win the seat. When she took office in January 2011, Jackson became the court's 96th associate justice and formed a 4-3 majority of female justices for the first time in the court's history.News & Observer: Newest Madam Justice makes supremely female majority
She lost a bid for a second term in the election of 2018 to Democratic attorney and civil rights activist

Anita Earls Anita Earls (born February 20, 1960) is an African-American civil rights Lawyer, attorney, educator and Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Supreme Court of North Carolina. She previously served as the Executive Director of the ...

References

External links

Official biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Barbara 1961 births Living people Duke University School of Law alumni North Carolina Court of Appeals judges North Carolina lawyers Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court University of North Carolina School of Law alumni North Carolina Republicans 21st-century American judges Athens Drive High School alumni 21st-century American women judges