Education
- JD, North Carolina Central University, 1995
- BA, North Carolina State University, 1991
Brenda Gibson
Professor of Legal Writing
Brenda Gibson is an expert on legal writing whose research focuses on the science of pedagogy and its intersections with social science, history, and the law. She has dedicated almost 15 years of service to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) School of Law, where she led the legal writing program through a series of developments and enhancements.
Professor Gibson has served the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) in many capacities, including as an elected board member. She is also an active member of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI), having served on the editorial board of the LWI's Monograph Series, and the LWI Awards Committee as co-chair.
Prior to her work in academia, Professor Gibson was a staff attorney at the North Carolina Court of Appeals, Office of Staff Counsel. She was also a law clerk to Judge Clifton E. Johnson and Judge Patricia Timmons-Goodson at the Court of Appeals.
Courses
LAW 255 Appellate Advocacy
Publications
Books
- North Carolina Legal Research, Third Edition (Carolina Academic Press 2019) (with Laura Graham, Julie Kimbrough, Nichelle Perry).
- North Carolina Legal Research (Carolina Academic Press 2019).
Articles
- Lawyers, Trauma, and Professional Well-Being: How the Legal Community Takes Back Its Mental Health, Arkansas Law Review (2025) forthcoming.
- We Speak the Queen's English: Linguistic Profiling in the Legal Profession, 88 Brooklyn Law Review (2023).
- The Heirs' Property Problem: Racial Caste Origins and systemic Effects in the Black Community, 26 CUNY L. Rev. 172 (2023).
- Teaching in the Midst of Trauma, 27 J. Legal Writing Inst. 251 (2023).
- Affirmative Reaction: The Blueprint for Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession After SFFA, 1204 B.U. L. Rev. 123.
- The Indelible Mark of Plagiarism: Why is it so Difficult to Make it Stop?, 41 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 1 (2018).
- Upon Considering. . . The Seven Deadly Sins of Legal Writing (Book Review), 19 N.C. Bar J. 24 (2014).
- Grading Rubrics: Their Creation and Their Many Benefits to Professors and Students, 38 North Carolina Central Law Review 41 (2014).
Other
- If Only We Could . . . Make It Stick . . . (Book Review) (April 2017).
Presentations
- It Takes a Village: How to Use Support Personnel Effectively
SEALS, August 1, 2022 - Supporting Student Writing at Every Stage of Legal Education
SEALS, January 1, 2022
Media
- Cited by Angelique Davis Seattle University's Webinar Analyzing Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard and UNC, June 30, 2023
- As the pandemic drags on, law professors are making changes ABA Journal, January 18, 2022
Expertise
- Law Teaching
- Legal Writing & Research