Jordan receives Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism Award

Darrin D. Jordan received the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism Award during the commission’s annual awards dinner on Jan. 21. This award is presented annually to an individual or individuals whose contributions have demonstrated the highest commitment to genuine professionalism and the highest standards of legal ethics.

Darrin D. Jordan practices law in Salisbury, North Carolina, where he is a partner with Whitley, Jordan, Inge & Rary, P.A. He has been a North Carolina State Bar board certified specialist in state criminal law since 2004. In 2025, he expanded that certification to include federal criminal defense law. 

Jordan earned his undergraduate degree in political science and accounting from Catawba College and his Juris Doctor from Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law in 1990. He began his legal career in Wilmington, North Carolina, with Peters, Register & McEachern, and later returned home as an assistant district attorney, serving as a prosecutor in both Cabarrus and Rowan Counties for the District Attorney’s Office before entering private practice.

He was elected to serve as the North Carolina State Bar councilor for Rowan County for nine years and later as an officer of 
the State Bar. He served as the 87th president of the North Carolina State Bar, guiding the organization through un-precedented challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He is a long-term advocate for access-to-justice and legal desert initiatives, and the important work of the Lawyer Assistance Program. 

Jordan served for seven years on the North Carolina Indigent Defense Services Commission, including two years as chair, where he advocated for the right to counsel and for the lawyers who provide indigent defense across the state. He is also an alternate commissioner on the Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. 

Beyond his formal leadership roles, Jordan has worked to strengthen collegiality within the Bar. For more than a decade, he has organized annual continuing legal education programs in Salisbury and in Western North Carolina at reduced cost to support lawyers across practice areas. He has also brought together lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and defenders in dinner settings throughout North Carolina to encourage mutual respect and professional connection. 

Jordan is married to Dana Jordan, a high school science teacher with nearly three decades of service. They have two adult children, Martin and Anna Dupree. When not practicing law, Darrin spends time in Jackson County, where he enjoys fly fishing and working as a part-time guide, pursuits that provide balance and perspective. 

Jordan reflects North Carolina’s state motto, Esse Quam Videri, to be rather than to seem. His career demonstrates professionalism practiced consistently, quietly, and with care for the people and institutions he serves.