Education

LL.M., Franklin Pierce Law Center
J.D., Georgetown University
B.A., Brown University

Biography

Brenda Reddix-Smalls graduated from Brown University with a joint degree in English American Literature and Economics. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University School of Law; and her Master of Laws in Intellectual Property from Franklin Pierce Law Center (now University of New Hampshire School of Law). Before joining the faculty at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) School of Law, she served as an instructor at South Carolina State University and Midlands Technical College. Prior to joining the faculty at NCCU School of Law, Reddix-Smalls served as a Visiting Professor at University of New Hampshire, School of Law.

Professor Reddix-Smalls has practiced law as a litigator for over 30 years. She specialized in complex litigation, juvenile law, education law, civil liberties, voting rights, municipal law, and commercial transactions. In 1993, she received the Modjeska Simpkins Flame of Justice Award for her advocacy on behalf of women and children. Professor Reddix-Smalls served as executive director of the South Carolina Conference of Branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1997 to 1998 where she was responsible for statewide litigation involving re-apportionment, voting rights and civil rights impact strategies.

Previously, in 1980, Professor Reddix-Smalls co-founded Carolina Regional Legal Services Corporation, serving as executive director and program coordinator for ten years, directing litigation for a multi-county area. Her specialties included complex litigation, appellate advocacy and consumer rights. In addition, she co-founded a Regional Health Clinic in Manning, S.C. to provide health care to the medically underserved counties, women, the elderly, infants and children, pursuant to the Rural Health Development Act. Professor Reddix-Smalls has also supervised and litigated voting rights legislation for the state of South Carolina, guiding the implementation of single member districts for municipalities and several school boards across the state. She served as co-counsel in three death penalty trials and acted as general counsel for six years for a small municipality in South Carolina. As city prosecutor in Lake City, S.C., she was responsible for minor criminal trials within the jurisdiction.

Professor Reddix-Smalls has conducted research and publishing in the intellectual property field. After gaining her LL.M., she studied the distribution and allocation of resources, the intersection of social policy, technology and intellectual property law in the commercial sector. Having taught Uniform Commercial Sales and Administrative Law, she also litigated complex commercial and business disputes representing contractors and small businesses.

Professor Reddix-Smalls began teaching Constitutional Law at NCCU School of Law in 2009. Her interests involved civil liberties and individual rights. However, her passions included intellectual property and individual liberties. She authored the grant for NCCU’s Patent Law Clinic, one of twenty-six (Patent and Trademark Clinics) at law schools in the United States. She spearheaded, with her colleagues, the development of the NCCU Intellectual Property Law Institute (IPLI), which seeks to expand the pool of IP attorneys and provide representation of IP protections to underserved and underrepresented diverse communities. IPLI currently serves as a one of a kind umbrella organization for higher education in North Carolina.

Reddix-Smalls previously served as counsel for several non-profit entities, including South Carolina School Board districts and a small municipality as general counsel, specializing in educational, tax and business issues.

Professor Reddix-Smalls is most proud of her civil rights litigation record, handling police brutality cases, employment discrimination and bank lending discrimination from the federal district courts through the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Although she has recently litigated in the medical malpractice area, Professor Reddix-Smalls’ interest in the intellectual property rights of artists, writers, and inventors remains her current passion.

Professor Reddix-Smalls is a member of the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Association and several other organizations. She is also the co-founder of the eBushua Foundation, which is an arts foundation based in South Carolina.