JANS – Gayla Carpenter-Sanders of Jackson has been elected to the Board of Commissioners of the Mississippi Bar representing District 7 Post 5 and Nakimuli Davis-Primer of Jackson has been elected representing District 7 Post 4. The Mississippi Bar is composed of nearly 9,000 active members who are licensed to practice law in Mississippi, and the Board of Commissioners is its governing body. Members of the Board include statewide elected officers, as well as representatives from each of Mississippi’s Circuit Court Districts.
Carpenter-Sanders is the executive director and general counsel of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project (MVLP), a position she has held since 2014. Since joining MVLP, Carpenter-Sanders has expanded its programs from its family law program to include pro bono opportunities in both the circuit courts and federal courts of Mississippi. Particularly, MVLP has expanded its general program to include the Mississippi Settlement Assistance Program, Mississippi Free Legal Answers, the Mississippi Foreclosure Prevention Program, and Mississippi Legal Ambassadors. Under her leadership, MVLP has tripled the number of free legal clinics hosted across the state serving more than 350 individuals annually. MVLP was named a top non-profit in the state of Mississippi by the Mississippi Business Journal in 2019 and 2021.
Prior to assuming her position with MVLP, Carpenter-Sanders was in private practice for ten years as a litigation associate specializing in family law, premises liability, and insurance defense. She earned an undergraduate degree from Tougaloo College and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida School of Law.
Carpenter-Sanders is a member of the American Bar Association, Magnolia Bar Association, Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, Capital Area Bar Association, and the Madison County Bar Association. She is a past member of the Mississippi Bar’s Women in the Profession Committee, Bench-Bar Liaison Committee, and the Access to Justice Committee. She is also a provider member of the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission.
Carpenter-Sanders received the MVLP Pro Bono award in 2011. She has also been recognized as a Super Lawyers Mid-South Rising Star in insurance defense in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and in legal services in 2015 and 2016. She received the Magnolia Bar Association’s Public Service Award in 2015 and its Community Service Award in 2022.
In the community, Carpenter-Sanders has been active on the executive boards of both the McWillie Elementary PTA and the Power APAC PTA. She was named Parent of the Year at Power APAC in 2019. Carpenter-Sanders is the immediate past president of the Murrah High School Soccer Booster Club. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated; Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated; and The Links, Incorporated.
Carpenter-Sanders is married to attorney Marvin Sanders, with whom she shares a stepdaughter, Jaylen, and two sons, Marvin Jr., and Morgan.
Nakimuli Davis-Primer
Davis-Primer, a shareholder at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, focuses her practice on labor and employment. She partners with clients to create respectful and safe workplaces that comply with federal, state, and local law. Davis-Primer develops policies and procedures and trains leaders on various employment law issues as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion related issues.
Before joining Baker Donelson, Davis-Primer, a graduate of Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi School of Law, was a law clerk to the Honorable Leslie H. Southwick of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Davis-Primer is actively involved in her firm, professional organizations, and her community. She is also passionate about creating a more inclusive legal profession. Davis-Primer received the Outstanding Service Award for CABA in 2018, and the Outstanding Service Award for Jackson Young Lawyers in 2013. She is listed in Chambers USA as a leading Labor & Employment lawyer and The Best Lawyers in America, and she is a Bencher in the Charles Clark Inn of Court, 2017 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation, and a graduate of the Leadership Greater Jackson class of 2014-2015.
Davis-Primer was recognized by the American Bar Association as a 2020 Top 40 Young Attorney and by the Mississippi Business Journal as a Top 10 honoree on its Top 50 under 40 list in 2020. Lawyers of Color honored her with its inaugural Wonderful Women Honoree for 2023, and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association honored her with its Rising Star award in 2022. Bloomberg Law named her to its They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 list in 2022.
Davis-Primer and her husband, Yuric, have one daughter, Zari, 5. They attend Word of Life Church in Flowood.
