Biography

Merceria L. Ludgood was elected to serve the citizens of Mobile County as County Commissioner for District One on October 9, 2007. Ms. Ludgood grew up in Mobile's Crichton community and was a 1970 honor graduate of Toulminville High School. She attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she received her B.S. in 1974 and her M.A. in 1976. Ms. Ludgood graduated from Antioch School of Law in Washington, DC in 1981. While a law student, she worked as a law clerk to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Jurisprudence and Governmental Relations, chaired by Senator Howell Heflin. She received her Master of Divinity from the Alabama Interdenominational Seminary in 1990. Ms. Ludgood began her law practice in 1981 with the firm of Figures, Irby and Ludgood, where she remained until 1988 when she began a solo practice. In 1991, Ms. Ludgood was selected to lead the Legal Services Corporation of Alabama, which provides free civil legal services to income-eligible clients. She managed fourteen offices located across sixty of Alabama's 67 counties. In 1995, Ms. Ludgood joined the staff of the national office of the Legal Services Corporation in Washington, DC, as Director of the Office of Program Services. Upon her return to Mobile, she became a full-time assistant county attorney. She held this position for fourteen years, seven of those as retained counsel. Ms. Ludgood served as assistant city attorney from April, 2007 until October, 2007. Ms. Ludgood is the recipient of many honors and awards including being selected for Leadership Mobile, Leadership Alabama and the prestigious Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship. As a Kellogg Fellow, she traveled to seventeen countries on five continents interviewing women leaders. Ms. Ludgood has been honored for her public service by the Ladies Auxiliary of Knights of St. Peter Claver, Dearborn YMCA, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Mobile County Democratic Executive Committee and the YWCA of Greater Mobile. Ms. Ludgood was featured in an Alabama Bar Journal article entitled "African-American Women Making a Difference in the Legal Profession." Consistent with her motto, "to whom much is given, much is required," Ms. Ludgood lends her time to many organizations, including Mobile United/Leadership Mobile, Leadership Alabama, Alabama Appleseed Center of Law and Justice, A+ Education Foundation, Boy Scouts, Alabama Commission on the Status of Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System, Alabama State Bar Board of Bar Commissioners, Mobile Bar Association Executive Committee, United Way Women's Initiative, and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. She was the recipient of Mobile United's A. F. Delchamps Award for creating community by forging unity from diversity and serve as General Chairman for 2008. Ms. Ludgood is a member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where she serves as a Sunday School Teacher, Bible class teacher, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and Youth Counselor. She is married to Carlos Williams, Federal Defender for the Southern District of Alabama.