Deborah Brooks Durden ’83 was sworn in as a Judge of the South Carolina Administrative Law Court Wednesday, February 17, at 4:00 p.m. The ceremony and a press conference was held at Columbia College, in Alumnae Hall, followed by a reception.  
 
The oath of office will be administered by the Honorable Marvin F. Kittrell, Chief Judge of the Administrative Law Court and the Reverend Dr. Ed McDowell, Jr.
 
Her election to the post was confirmed Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Durden was named to fill the seat vacated by the election of John Geathers to the Court of Appeals.  Durden has served as Assistant Chief Counsel at the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) since 1998.  She received her B.A. from Columbia College in 1983 and her law degree from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1991.  She is admitted to practice before the bars of South Carolina and Alaska.
 
Durden served as a law clerk to the Honorable Karen Hunt of the Alaska Superior court from 1991 to 1992.  Prior to her service at SCDOT Ms. Durden was in private practice with the firms of Faulkner Banfield Doogan and Holmes in Anchorage and later with Gergel Nickles and Grant in Columbia. Durden and her husband Kevin reside in Columbia and have three children, Jamie ,Susan and Angela.