Vernetta Perkins

Judge Vernetta R Perkins, Esq. is the Education Community Organizer for the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation. She is a certified level 1 Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation trainer. She is the first Black, female District Court Judge for Dallas County as well as the founder of the Selma-Dallas County Education Foundation, a foundation created to raise funds for the local public schools. She was formerly General Counsel for Montgomery Public Schools, in Montgomery, Alabama. As General Counsel she was responsible for all legal affairs of the board of education and the school district, specializing in Title VII, Title IX, Title VI, Section 504, ADA, FMLA, FLSA and board governance matters. In that capacity, she also served as advisor to the superintendent and senior staff regarding strategic planning, public policy, community engagement, general compliance and fiscal issues affecting the district. She is a graduate of Spelman College and University of Alabama School of Law. Before coming on staff as the attorney for MPS, Vernetta served as a full-time prosecutor for the Office of Ellen Brooks, District Attorney, 15th Judicial Circuit, part-time homicide prosecutor for the Office of Michael Jackson, 4th Judicial Circuit while in private practice handling juvenile court, family law and general civil cases. She was also formerly an associate attorney with the Montgomery law firm, Davis & Hatcher, LLC.