Ed Brooks
Edward K. Brooks was born and raised in Pembroke, North Carolina. He watched his father develop a family-independent pharmacy into a thriving home health agency serving most of southeast North Carolina. In high school, he was active in athletics, student government, and his family church.
Brooks served as a United States Congressional Page during his junior year in Washington. Brooks completed his undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his Juris Doctorate from the North Carolina Central University School of Law. Brooks began his career as a trial attorney whose practice focused on civil litigation in general tort liability and cases involving the sovereignty of Indian tribes. Brooks is admitted to practice in the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina. He was admitted pro hac vice to defend asbestos claims in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He has also been admitted to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has briefed and orally argued before the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Brooks was a partner with the law firm of Patterson Dilthey, LLP until April of 2013, when he opened his own law practice. Since opening his practice in Pembroke, Brooks has prioritized providing general counsel to local businesses from start-up to assisting with federal contracting regulations.
Brooks also serves as legal counsel to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, of which he is an enrolled tribal member. In representing the Lumbee Tribe, he has provided legal advice related to employment issues, contract drafting and review, adherence to federal law about the provisioning of low-income housing, negotiated with various contractors regarding services rendered before and after contract award by the Tribe and has represented the Tribe during multiple inquiries by various federal agencies. Brooks has prepared witnesses who represented the Lumbee Tribe before the United States Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He has assisted the Lumbee Tribe in applying for and complying with the United States Small Business Administration 8(a) program requirements. He is one of a limited number of attorneys in the nation to successfully argue the sovereignty of a state-recognized Indian Tribe in a state court.
Brooks is married to LeeChelle, his wife of 13 years, and has three sons, Riley, Drake, and Gaige. He is a Hyde Park Baptist Church deacon in Lumberton, North Carolina. Having been rooted in the Robeson County community, Brooks is interested in seeing the business community thrive.
N.C. General Assembly Appointee through 2027