Date Died: Living

 Place Buried: Living

Barbara Jackson was born on December 25, 1961, the daughter of Kenneth W. Jackson and Phyllis S. Jackson. She grew up in Raleigh, NC and graduated from Athens Drive Senior High School in 1980. She earned her B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1984. She completed the Meredith University Legal Assistants Program in 1986. She earned her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1990.

From 1990 to 1991, Barbara Jackson served as a Law Clerk for Associate Justice Burley Bayard Mitchell, Jr. on the NC Supreme Court. (He later became Chief Justice).

From 1991 to 1992, Barbara Jackson served as Assistant Legal Counsel and Associate General Counsel to Governor James Grubbs Martin.

From 1992 to 1996, Barbara Jackson served as an Advocate for persons with disabilities. This was on the Governor's Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities under Governor James Grubbs Martin and Governor James Baxter Hunt, Jr.

From 1996 to 2001, Barbara Jackson was an Associate Attorney in the law firm of Holt, York, McDarris & High, LLP in Raleigh, NC.

From 2001 to 2004, Barbara Jackson served as General Counsel for the North Carolina Department of Labor.

In the 2004 General Elections, Barbara Jackson was elected as a Judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

In the 2010 General Election, Barbara Jackson was elected as an Associate Justice on the NC Supreme Court, replacing Associate Justice Edward Thomas Brady, who decided not to run for re-election. She was sworn in during January of 2011.

In 2014, Barbara Jackson earned her LL.M. degree from Duke University.

In the November 2018 general election, Barbara Jackson was defeated by newcomer Anita Sue Earls.

Barbara Jackson was born December 25, 1961 and is (almost) a Wake County native, having moved there at age three with her parents, Kenneth W. and Phyllis S. Jackson. She was raised in Raleigh and graduated from Athens Drive Senior High School in 1980.

Personal Information

Member of: Highland United Methodist Church

Educational Background

J.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990) (Law School Honors and Activities: Staff Member, North Carolina Law Review; Dean’s List; Phi Delta Phi (President); College Bowl; Meredith College Legal Assistants Program (1986); B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1984) (Activities and Honors: Thomas J. Watson National Merit Scholar; Dean’s List; Zeta Tau Alpha (Social Chair); Carolina Union Forum Committee; Oxford University, Oxford England, Summer Study.

Professional Background

General Counsel, North Carolina Department of Labor; Associate, Holt York McDarris, LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina; Deputy General Counsel, North Carolina Governor’s Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities; Associate General Counsel to Governor James G. Martin; Assistant Legal Counsel to Governor James G. Martin; Research Assistant to the Honorable Burley B. Mitchell, Jr., (then Associate) Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Honors And Awards

Recipient, Order of the Long Leaf Pine; Fellow, North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership.

Community Activities

Past and Present: North Carolina Bar Association (Vice Chair, Administrative Law Section) (Labor Department Liaison, Labor and Employment Section); Wake County Bar Association (Board of Directors); North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys; State Employees Combined Campaign State Advisory Committee; Raleigh Telecommunications Commission; Law Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Task Force; Special Needs Federation; Junior League of Raleigh; Sir Walter Cabinet.