About Brenda

Brenda Stedham was born in Birmingham and raised in small communities throughout north Alabama where her father served as a United Methodist minister. She graduated cum laude from Birmingham-Southern College, where she was Student Government President. She received her law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1980 and moved to Anniston after serving as a law clerk to a Judge Richard L. Holmes of the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.

She is a past President and former Executive Committee member of the Calhoun-Cleburne Bar Association Board of Directors. She is a former President and founding member of the Pelham Merrill Inn of Court.  She is a founding member and Past President of the Cheaha Republican Women’s Club and a member of the Calhoun County Republican Executive Committee.  She is a founding member and former Executive Committee member of the Anniston Morning Rotary Club and a current member and former Executive Committee member of the Anniston Rotary Club.

Mrs. Stedham currently serves on the Alabama State Women’s Commission. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama and former member of the Executive Committee of the Foundation.  She is a current member of the Collaborative Law Committee of the Alabama Law Institute. 

During her service as Presiding Judge of the Family Court for Calhoun and Cleburne Counties, Mrs. Stedham served on the State Circuit Judges’ Association Education Committee, which planned and implemented the continuing education programs for state judges twice a year.  At the request of the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice’s office, she became responsible for creating and operating the Calhoun County Veterans’ Treatment Court.  She was responsible for re-vitalizing and operating the Calhoun County Children’s Policy Council as well.   She served as a Vice-President of the State Juvenile Judges’ Association and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Coosa Valley Youth Services Board of Directors.

Mrs. Stedham has dedicated her time to organize and implement monthly continuing education programs for the Calhoun-Cleburne Bar Association for many years and has taught continuing education courses for lawyers at the Alabama School of Law, and at Cumberland Law School.  In addition, she has served a guest lecturer at the University of Alabama Law School and at Jones Law School and has taught continuing education classes for judges. 

Mrs. Stedham currently has a general law practice with an emphasis on litigation in a broad range of the civil law areas, including municipal, personal injury, probate, contracts, medical malpractice, hospital, family, and real estate.  She also has a thriving office practice.  Mrs. Stedham has extensive experience in church law as well, having represented the Cheaha District of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church for many years before taking the bench and having represented many Southern Baptist churches over the years.

Mrs. Stedham was trained by the American Academy of Attorney Mediators in 1995 and is a charter member of the Alabama Academy of Attorney Mediators. 
With the sole exception of her time on the State Court bench, Mrs. Stedham has continuously practiced law in the Anniston area since 1980.  She maintained a solo practice for eight years before taking the bench.  She was a Partner and Vice-President at the Anniston law firm of Dillon, Field, Monk and Stedham for twenty years before opening her solo practice in 2001.

Mrs. Stedham and her husband of 33 years have two adult daughters.