Legal Legend of Color: Attorney Brenda Ford Harding
Attorney Brenda Ford Harding is a native of Durham, North Carolina. As a child, Brenda began her journey as a part of the civil rights movement due to the influence of family members who worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. She earned her B.S. degree in Biology from Boston University in 1976 and her J.D. degree in 1979 from UNC School of Law, where she was a member of the Moot Court Bench.
After becoming the first legal intern in her class, Brenda was awarded the national Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship for Community Lawyers. This fellowship enabled her to work, at then-North Central Legal Assistance Program in the community while also maintaining a court-based caseload. During this time, one of the major litigations she worked on was the Crest Street case, which fought the construction of what is now the Durham Freeway. That construction was devastating to Durham Black community, including the historic Hayti area. Although Brenda was a young lawyer working on the case, it was then that she knew community work was her calling. After her fellowship, Brenda moved to eastern North Carolina to work at East Carolina Legal Services in Wilson. It was at ECLS that she began work on voting rights litigation and won her first case in this area. This litigation was in both state and federal courts.
Feeling the pull of Durham and home, Brenda next took a role as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers Land Loss Prevention Project. The goal of the project was to prevent the loss of land from Black landowners. Later, Brenda became Acting Director of the Civil Litigation Project and an Adjunct Professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law. Brenda’s drive to help low-income communities, and to litigate, led her to return to legal services as Executive Director of North State Legal Services in Hillsborough. During her leadership, North State was very active in the community and work on high-impact cases.
Seeing the opportunity to return to voting rights and other civil rights issues, because of Legal Services Corporation prohibition from working on many of these issues, in 2001, she moved to Washington, D.C. to become Deputy Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Here she worked with the staff on policy and on litigation at all levels in state and federal courts. One of Brenda’s major personal and professional joys was attending the United Nations Conference of Racism in Durbin, South Africa. Being at the right place at the right time enabled Brenda to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Fidel Castro! In 2006, Brenda returned to legal services as the Executive Director of Neighborhood Legal Services in D.C. Serving as chief executive of a community law office, she was responsible for the overall operation of the program, litigation, and community activity.
Again, feeling the pull of her beloved Durham, Brenda retired and returned home in 2012. During this time, she provided pro se assistance to low-income persons, was active in the community, and served on numerous boards, including as a chair of the board for the Transformative Justice Coalition in Washington, D.C. She also experienced the joy of being an active and involved grandmother. In 2018, Brenda was asked by incoming Durham Country District Attorney Satana DeBerry to come out of retirement to serve as the Deputy Chief for Legal and Community Affairs and a member of her leadership team. Excited by DA Deberry’s vision for progressive prosecution, she agreed.
Brenda has received numerous awards and honors including from the Advocates for Justice (UDC Law School) and the Durham Human Relations Commission, as well as the Outstanding Chair Award for both D.C. and N.C. legal aid groups, and Outstanding Attorney (North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys). Brenda is a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Brenda resides in Durham with her husband, Robert Harding. She is the mother of Jasmine McGhee, Senior Deputy Attorney General at the North Carolina Department of Justice, Robert Harding Jr., and Sherise Harding. Her greatest joy is spending time with her wonderful granddaughters: Wynter, Josephine, London, and Na’Talia.