Phyliss Craig-Taylor

Phyliss Craig-Taylor is a veteran legal educator whose journey began on a small family-owned farm in Yantley, Alabama. Craig-Taylor is a graduate of the University of Alabama, where she completed both her undergraduate and law degrees. Before earning a Master of Laws degree at Columbia University, Craig-Taylor served as a law clerk for Justice Mark Kennedy on the Alabama Supreme Court and became a partner of England & Bivens Attorneys at Law in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Craig-Taylor’s credentials also include a Green Belt certification in Six Sigma process management from Vanderbilt University.

Craig-Taylor currently lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she is a professor and former dean of the North Carolina Central School of Law. Her administrative experience includes serving as an associate dean of academics and the director of teaching excellence. She has taught courses in Property, Real Estate Finance, Advanced Issues in Property, Land Use, Women and the Law, Land Loss, and Professional Responsibility. Her work history includes serving as a full-time faculty member at the University of Tennessee, the University of Florida, Charlotte School of Law and North Carolina Central University. She has served as a visiting scholar at the University of Warsaw Center for American Law and the University of San Francisco School of Law. Craig-Taylor has published numerous articles on land loss in the African-American community and discrimination in the application of laws for minority groups, including women. Her publication “Through a Colored Looking Glass: A View of Judicial Partition, Family Land Loss and Rule Setting” was the seminal work of that the area and led to major legislative reform of the law of judicial partition.

Craig-Taylor is a respected expert and voice of influence in the legal community at the local, state, and national levels. President Barack Obama appointed her to serve as a member of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. On the state level, she is a member of the Governor’s Taskforce on Wind and Energy Resources and the Judicial Partition of Tenancy in Common Property Study Commission for the North Carolina State Legislature. She has served as the American Bar association advisor to the Uniform Law Commission on several study commissions, and in her role as advisor, she contributed to the drafting and adoption of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. In addition to holding multiple leadership positions with the American Bar Association, she has held membership in the Women in Law Committee and the Minorities in the Profession Committee for the North Carolina State Bar Association. She serves on multiple community boards. She is especially proud of an academic support program created for law students that focused on study skills, reading comprehension, time management, and successful bar examination preparation.

Craig-Taylor has paid forward her expertise and legal training by elevating people and communities. Her genuine curiosity and concern about people and the issues that influence their lives have made her a cherished and welcomed member of personal and professional communities. Her journey exemplifies how life lessons, experiences, and faith can create the foundation for you to use your gifts and talents to achieve personal and professional success.