Suzanne Reynolds (born 1949, in

Lexington, North Carolina Lexington is the county seat of Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town had a population of 19,632. It is located in central North Carolina, south of Winston-Salem, North Caroli ...

) is a law professor and dean emerita at

Wake Forest University School of Law Wake Forest University School of Law is the law school of Wake Forest University, a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Established in 1894, Wake Forest University School of Law is an American Bar Association (ABA) accred ...

. She is the first woman to head the school, and was named dean after serving four years as executive associate dean for academic affairs. Reynolds ran for the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

seat held by incumbent

Robert H. Edmunds Jr. Robert Holt Edmunds Jr. (born April 17, 1949) is an American lawyer, formerly an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Early life and education Born in Danville, Virginia, Edmunds moved to Greensboro, North Carolina at the age ...

in the 2008 election. She lost to Edmunds by a narrow margin.Dan Galindo, Winston-Salem Journal (2012-12-12) "Reynolds just shy of seat on high court in late count". Retrieved 2014-10-08.
/ref> Reynolds graduated with a bachelor's degree from

Meredith College Meredith College is a private women's liberal arts college and coeducational graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qu ...

in 1971, with an M.A. degree from

UNC-Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795 ...

in 1976, and with a J.D. from

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

School of Law in 1977. From her law school graduation until she accepted a position at WFU, Reynolds worked at the

Greensboro Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...

law firm of Smith Moore Smith Schell & Hunter. In 1978, she married Robert M. "Hoppy" Elliot, also an attorney. Reynolds won the North Carolina Governor's Distinguished Woman of the Year award for Education in 1998, the Gwyneth B. Davis Award for Public Service from the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys in 1996, and the Joseph Branch Teaching Excellence award from Wake Forest Law School in 1994. Her publications include the three-volume treatise, ''Lee's North Carolina Family Law''.

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