Name: Yolanda Trotman
Item: Yolanda Trotman
Author: Yolanda

Bio

Yolanda Trotman is originally from High Point, North Carolina and graduated from UNC-
Charlotte in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and was a North Carolina Teaching Fellow.
Yolanda was an award-winning high school history teacher, debate and speech coach, and Mock
trial coach before attending law school.
In 1999 she attended law school at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated in May 2002 with
her Juris Doctor degree and received awards for her commitment to serving the community.
Yolanda began her legal career in Charlotte North Carolina as an Assistant Public Defender in
October 2002 and was also an Adjunct Professor at UNC-Charlotte in the criminal justice
department.
In 2005 she opened her own law practice, the Law Office of Yolanda M. Trotman, PLLC. She
was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Phoenix and was nationally ranked as one of the
“Top 10 Ten Under 40” Family Law attorneys by the National Academy of Family Law
Attorneys.
She was elected as a District Court Judge on November 4, 2014 and served as a Judge in the
26th Judicial District where she presided in matters in all criminal courts, civil court, domestic
violence court and family court. She also continued her commitment to serving the community
and working with students.
In September 2015 Yolanda founded iSpeak Now, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that
teaches public speaking, critical thinking and related skills to elementary, middle and high school
students by utilizing an interactive mock trial model called the Mock Trial Experience, and the
organization has several other programs that work with children and young adults. iSpeak Now
has garnered a significant amount of media attention in a short time span including multiple local
news stories and a feature on Investigation Discovery’s McFadden Around the Way.
Yolanda decided to leave the bench in December 2016 and return to the private sector to practice
law and to pursue to development and expansion of iSpeak Now throughout local schools.
She has been certified by Lawyers of Distinction for her work as a Family Law attorney in North
Carolina. She has also been named to the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Criminal Defense in North
Carolina.
Yolanda has continuously served the community and has received several awards for her service
to the community. She has been named a Radio One “Woman of Excellence” and one of the “50
Most Influential Women” from the Mecklenburg Times. She was awarded the Charlotte NAACP
Community Empowerment Award for her work with iSpeak Now and received a Community
Appreciation Award from Brightwood College and ITT Tech. She received the Phenomenal
Woman of the Year Award from WSGE and the Climate Change Award from Charlotte School
of Law. She received a Commendation from former Governor Pat McCrory as a result of the
community service award she received from Distinguished Partners. She is a member of Delta
Sigma Theta, Sorority, Incorporated.

Yolanda Trotman

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