Leah Broker grew up in rural Missouri, the third of seven children. She attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, receiving a four-year academic scholarship. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Marquette in 1989.
After college, Leah went directly to law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving her Juris Doctor (J.D.) in May 1992. After passing the July 1992 N.C. Bar exam, Leah began practicing law in Asheville.
Since arriving in Asheville in 1992 Leah has been an active member of numerous voluntary bar associations as well as holding leadership roles within professional and community associations. She was President of the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys, was a board member and President of Western Carolinians for Criminal Justice, a board member of Pisgah Legal Services, served on the N.C. Bar Association Call4All Task Force, and is currently Co-Chair of the Western region of the N.C. Advocates for Justice Women's Caucus. Leah is also a Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer for Pisgah Legal Services.
In the community, Leah is currently a board member and Secretary for the Western Carolina Medical Society Foundation; a past board member of the YWCA of Asheville including Chair of their Advocacy Committee; a past member of the Women For Women giving circle of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. Leah also maintains annual memberships with the N.C. Arboretum, the WNC Nature Center and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. She contributes annually to WCQS/Blue Ridge Public Radio and Homeward Bound as well as other non-profit organizations.
