Elaine Marshall - Early Life, Education and Career

Early Life, Education and Career

Marshall was born in Lineboro, Maryland in 1945. Her father was a farmer who, for many years, served as a volunteer fire fighter and community leader, and her mother was the organist in the family’s small rural church for more than 60 years. She attended public schools as a child and became the first person in her family to graduate college. She studied textiles at the University of Maryland from 1964 to 1968, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Textiles and Clothing. During her undergraduate years, she spent her summers working as a camping director for the Maryland 4-H Foundation, an organization she has continued to support.

After graduation, Marshall taught in the public schools of Lenoir County, North Carolina and then ran a book and gift store. She later returned to the field of education as an instructor at Lenoir Community College and Johnston Technical Community College.

Marshall returned to school to study law at the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University and earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1981, where she was accepted into the Who's Who Among American Universities and Colleges. She has been admitted to practice before all North Carolina courts, the U.S. District courts in the Eastern and Middle Districts of North Carolina, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. She is a member of the NC State Bar, the NC Bar Association, the NC Association of Women Attorneys, and the Delta Theta Phi legal fraternity. She became a partner in a Lillington, North Carolina law firm in 1985.