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Jackie Grant New NCBA President

NCBA/NCBF President Jackie Grant

Jacqueline D. Grant of Asheville has been installed as the 124th president of the North Carolina Bar Association. Chief Justice Mark Martin of the N.C. Supreme Court administered the oath of office on Saturday evening, June 23, at the Wilmington Convention Center.

She will also serve as president of the North Carolina Bar Foundation.

Grant is a partner and litigator with Roberts & Stevens, where she has practiced her entire career. She is a graduate of Western Carolina University and the University of North Carolina School of Law.

A lifelong Asheville resident, Grant is the daughter of Cathey Grant and Arthur Grant. Her mom held the Bible during the swearing-in ceremony.

She succeeds Caryn McNeill of Raleigh.

Grant is a graduate of A.C. Reynolds High School, where she first discovered her interest in the law.

“I knew that I wanted to be a lawyer ever since the 9th grade,” Grant said. “I took a civics and government class, and there was a section on the law. That was when I knew what I wanted to do.”

Grant served on the NCBA Board of Governors from 2010-13 and is a former member of the Litigation Section Council. She has also served on numerous committees, including the Medico-Legal Liaison Committee and the Delivery of Legal Services Committee, which she has chaired, and the Awards and Recognitions Committee, on which she has served as co-chair the past two years.

She has also been an active member of the N.C. Association of Defense Attorneys, Defense Research Institute and the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys. Locally Grant has been a devoted community advocate who has served on the board of numerous organizations, including the YWCA, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Western North Carolina and the City of Asheville Sustainable Economic Development Task Force.

In 2016 Grant received the NCBA’s Citizen Lawyer Award, presented annually to attorneys across the state who provide exemplary public service and leadership to their communities.

In 2014-15, Grant became the first African-American female to serve as president of the 28th Judicial District Bar which encompasses Buncombe County. She becomes the second African-American female and third African-American overall to serve as president of the NCBA.