Marda Walters Sydnor grew up in Jacksonville, Alabama. She graduated from Auburn University in 1975 and from Cumberland School of Law of Samford University in 1980. While in law school, Ms. Sydnor was Articles Editor of The American Journal of Trial Advocacy and was an Associate Justice of the Moot Court Board. She was the winner of the Gordon T. Saad Moot Court Competition her junior year of law school. She was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama from 1980 to 1983.
Admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1980 and the Virginia Bar in 1981, Ms. Sydnor is a member of the American Bar Association, the Alabama State Bar, the Birmingham Bar Association, the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, the Virginia Bar Association, Defense Research Institute, and the National Association of Women Lawyers. She is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Alabama as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She served as President of the Birmingham Bar Association in 2005-2006. Other leadership positions with the Birmingham Bar Association include: President-Elect 2004-2005; Secretary-Treasurer 2003-2004; Executive Committee 1999-2002; Grievance Committee Chairman; Membership Committee Chairman; and Executive Committee of the Young Lawyers Section. She previously served on the Board of the Birmingham Bar Foundation Trust, the charitable arm of the Birmingham Bar Association, and the Board of Trustees of the Legal Aid Society. She is a former regional vice president of the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association. She currently serves as a trustee for the Birmingham Bar Aid Trust and is on the Cumberland School of Law Advisory Board.
Ms. Sydnor has tried over 100 jury trials in state and federal courts, and specializes in the defense of premises liability, pharmacy malpractice and products liability. She has been awarded an AV peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers. She is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, the American Board of Trial Advocates, and the National Association of Women Lawyers. She was named to the inaugural class of Birmingham Bar Foundation Fellows in 2012. She is an Alabama Chapter Representative to the National Board of Directors for the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Ms. Sydnor is married to a trial attorney, Allen Sydnor, but she and her husband agree that the best debaters in their family are their two sons.
The Sydnors are members of Independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.
