Agnes Chappell

Agnes Chappell was the first African American woman to practice law in Jefferson County. She is a Judge in the Domestic Relations Division, Place 23 on the tenth Judicial Circuit of the Court of Alabama. Judge Chappell spent fourteen years in the Birmingham Municipal Court, establishing the Domestic Violence Court, the first therapeutic court, for Birmingham. She has many years of experience in the area of family and juvenile delinquency law. She grew up in Birmingham before mandatory integration of schools, but her parents arranged for her to attend Shades Valley High School, a predominantly white school. She remembers walking down Fairground Street with her father, and asking him if she could go to the fair. “Another time,” he replied, wanting to shield his daughter from the harsh reality of segregation. She went to Washington, DC on a field trip and there she decided she wanted to go to law school. She says the idea was “laughable” at the time. Nevertheless, in fact, she went on to get both a bachelor’s degree and a JD from the University of Alabama, the second black woman to do so..

Chappell served as a senior trial referee at Jefferson County Family Court and was a partner in the firm of Brown, Chappell & Burrell, specializing in family law. She has also worked with Momentum Leadership and the Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham. She has served on the steering committee for Voices against Domestic Violence, and as a member of the Alabama Domestic Violence Statutory Revision Committee. She also worked with the Birmingham Police Department's "Birmingham Community Policing and Revitalization Division" (formerly the "Birmingham Weed & Seed Task Force"). Chappell founded New Rising Star's non-profit Community Support Corporation and served as its president. She mentors students through Rising Stars Learning Center and Bethel Learning Center, and also through Birmingham's "Shadow an Executive" program. She is a board member of the Zonta Club of Birmingham and chair of the Magic City Bar Association's judicial council. She received the Metro Birmingham NAACP's "Equal Justice Award" in 2009 and the Magic City Bar Association honored her in 2011 for her efforts on behalf of victims of domestic violence. In 2013 she was honored by the North Central Girl Scouts of Alabama as a "Woman of Distinction", and by the Birmingham International Center as a "Motivating Woman".