Ashley Austin Edwards

On April 30, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit appointed the Honorable Ashley Austin Edwards to serve as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Edwards took the oath of office on September 16, 2024, with a duty station in Charlotte. She serves on the Artificial Intelligence Task Force established by the Fourth Circuit Executive’s Office, as well as the Next Generation Committee and New Member Committee of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. Prior to assuming office, Judge Edwards practiced for 14 years at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP where she was a partner and the practice group leader for the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Group. She was admitted to practice before all U.S. Bankruptcy and District Courts in North Carolina and Georgia as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Judge Edwards was board certified in business bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification (ABC). For her legal practice, Judge Edwards was named an American Bankruptcy Institute “40 Under 40” honoree in 2019 and was recognized by her peers for many years with rankings in Chambers USA, Business North Carolina Legal Elite, and The Best Lawyers in America. Judge Edwards also was named as one of the 40 Under 40 Business Leaders in 2022 by the Charlotte Business Journal. Judge Edwards, in her legal practice, served on the Southeastern Advisory Board of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Next Generation Committee of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, and the leadership team of the North Carolina Bar Association Bankruptcy Section. Additionally, she served as a member of Parker Poe's Pro Bono Committee and averaged more than 80 hours of pro bono services each year with a focus on work with North Carolina's Guardian ad Litem program, through which she represented abused and neglected children. From 2009 to 2010, Judge Edwards served as a law clerk for the Honorable J. Craig Whitley (ret.) at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Edwards graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Spanish and obtained her Juris Doctorate at Emory University School of Law in 2009.