The Hon. Ashleigh Parker Dunston is a judge for the Wake County District Court in the 10th Judicial District of North Carolina. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Roy Cooper on November 3, 2017, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Jacqueline Brewer.
Prior to her appointment, Dunston was an assistant attorney general with the Division of Motor Vehicles in North Carolina Department of Justice, a position to which she was named in 2014. Before that, she spent time as an assistant district attorney in the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, where she was tasked with prosecuting identity theft, child abuse, and death by motor vehicle cases.
Dunston earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wake Forest University. She then completed a J.D. at North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Her memberships have included the Wake County Bar Association and the Capital City Lawyers Association. She has also co-founded the Wake County Legal Support Center, and she has chaired the City of Raleigh Fair Housing Hearing Board and the Wade Avenue Branch of the State Employees Credit Union Advisory Board.
She is a recipient of the President’s Award of Excellence and the Spotlight Award for Public Service from the Wake County Bar Association. She also received the Leadership Award from the City of Raleigh Fair Housing Hearing Board (2018) and the Salute to Champions Award from the Sports Shop Radio Show (2017).
Dunston, a mother of two children, was born and raised in Hickory, North Carolina. Her father, Jason, was the first African-American to practice law in Catawba County.
She is registered as a Democrat.
