ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥ alumna Debra M. Brown to become ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥â€™s first Black female chief federal judge
STARKVILLE, Miss.—ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥ State alumna and U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown is set to become the Magnolia State’s first Black female chief federal judge.
A ceremony will be held Friday at the U.S. Courthouse in Greenville where Brown will receive the gavel and become the new Chief Judge of the Northern District of ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥. She succeeds District Judge Sharion Aycock, also an ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥ alumna, in the role of chief judge.
Brown has served as a district judge since being nominated by former president Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2013. She is a 1987 graduate of ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥â€™s College of Architecture, Art and Design. Brown worked professionally as an architect before pursuing law school and graduating from the University of ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥ School of Law in 1997.
Prior to being appointed as a judge, Brown practiced law at Wise Carter Child & Carraway and Phelps Dunbar law firms in Jackson. She has served as president of the ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥ Women Lawyers Association. Among her professional accolades, she was the 2004 recipient of the Jackson Young Lawyers Outstanding Service Award and named as one of ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥â€™s Leading Businesswomen in 2008 by the ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥ Business journal. In 2014, she was recognized as the ÌÒ»¨Ö±²¥ College of Architecture, Art and Design’s Alumna of the Year.
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