Reba Peden

Paralegal

Reba was born in Memphis, TN and attended Callaway High School in Jackson, MS before receiving her GED and completing a two-year course of study at Hinds Jr. College, where she received her certificate of completion in Vocational Business and Office.

Reba began working in the legal field as a receptionist at a small law firm and was quickly moved to the position of legal secretary for the bankruptcy attorney in the firm. From there she strove to learn everything about the practice of law and has worked as a legal secretary, paralegal, and office administrator for various firms in the Jackson area for the past 27 plus years. She has worked on both sides, plaintiff and defense, and this may give her an edge in that she is aware of how the defense sector works in the fields of personal injury and workers’ compensation cases.

Reba has been a paralegal in the Elmore & Peterson Law Firm since November 2013 when she came to the firm on a temp-to-perm assignment which became permanent on March 1, 2014. Her specialty area is civil litigation but she works in all areas of the practice of Elmore & Peterson Law Firm, P.A. Reba’s main focus is in Worker’s Compensation and Personal Injury. She also works with the immigration department in obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) guardianships for several of the firm’s immigration clients, as well as working with a myriad of other family and criminal law issues.

Reba was on the organization committee for the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association’s Paralegal/Legal Assistant’s Committee and was Chair of that Committee from 1996 to 1997. She has also served on the Mississippi Bar Paralegal Committee from 2006 to 2010 where she Chaired the CLE Sub-Committee for two years providing substantive Continuing Legal Education programs for attorneys and support staff. Reba is a life member of NALS … the association for legal professionals, a tri-level association which includes the Mississippi Legal Professionals Association and the Pine Belt Legal Professionals. She has worked as Vice-Chair of the NALS Education Committee 2012 -2013, she served as Regional Director for a six state area from 2010-2012, served as Chair of the NALS Certifying Board and Chaired the Marketing Committee for two years. Reba was the 2013 Recipient of the NALS Award of Excellence, the most prestigious award given on the national level of NALS. She also currently serves on both the state and local levels as an officer on the Executive Boards of each. Reba has been a speaker/presenter at a number of conferences on topics ranging from Ethics to Time Management.

Reba is involved with community projects through her association with Hot Coffee Hunts for Heroes, a local hunting camp that brings in wounded veterans to hunt at Heaven in the Woods, a camp near Hot Coffee, Mississippi. She also chairs the Humanitarian Committee for the Mississippi Legal Professionals Association.