Bio (continued)

Jessica E. Leaven graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997, and she graduated with Honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2001. In law school, she served on the North Carolina Law Review as a Staff Member and an Articles Editor. She was a law clerk to the Honorable Carl E. Stewart of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After her clerkship, she practiced law for more than 20 years with litigation firms in Asheville and in the Triangle area before she joined Asheville Legal in 2026. 

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Her areas of practice include employment law. She has litigated cases in both state and federal court and before the North Carolina Industrial Commission and she has an extensive background in appellate work before the North Carolina Supreme Court, North Carolina Court of Appeals, and North Carolina Industrial Commission.  

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 Jessica obtained a successful ruling from the North Carolina Supreme Court in an employment lawsuit under the North Carolina Whistleblower Act.   She has also litigated a wide variety of other employment law cases including sexual harassment, sexual assault and battery, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA) cases, and wage and hour class and collective actions.  

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Jessica has authored and co-authored numerous publications.  She is an active member of North Carolina Advocates for Justice for which she has also been the Chair of the Employment Law Section and a speaker at Continuing Legal Education seminars at conventions hosted by the NCAJ.   She also served as the Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Labor and Employment Section.  She was a board member of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, and she served as the President of the Western North Carolina Chapter of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.  She also was an At-Large Member of the Executive Committee of the 28th Judicial District Bar.

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Jessica is the recipient of several awards including The Evan Mahaney Champion of Civil Liberties Award presented by the Western North Carolina Chapter of The American Civil Liberties Union.   She has been designated as a North Carolina Super Lawyers “Super Lawyer” from 2017 through 2027, and she was previously designated a North Carolina Super Lawyers “Rising Star”  from 2011 through 2015.

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Jessica lives in Asheville, and she enjoys spending time with her daughters, horseback riding, swing dancing, and hiking.

Jessica Leaven