Debbie Whittle Durban is a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Columbia, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina where she practices in the areas of labor and employment law and litigation.

Ms Durban has represented and defended employers against individual and class claims of employment discrimination on the basis of age, race, national origin, disability, and sex, including sexual harassment; wage and hour claims, Family and Medical Leave Act issues, enforceability of covenants not to compete; breach of employment contracts (including handbook claims); retaliation; wrongful discharge; trade secrets, and other employment-related suits. Additionally, Ms. Durban counsels employers on compliance issues and the development of strategies designed to avoid litigation; she has drafted and revised hundreds of employer policies, including numerous employee handbooks and practice manuals.

A member of the South Carolina and North Carolina Bars, Ms. Durban is admitted to practice before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina, and the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of North Carolina. She is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as an Employment and Labor Specialist.

Ms. Durban is a member of the American Bar Association, the Richland County Bar Association, the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association, the Defense Research Institue, and the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association. In 2010, she was selected by her peers as a South Carolina "Super Lawyer" for her employment and labor practice.

Ms. Durban is the author of "Independent Contractor or Employee? Getting It Wrong Can Be Costly," South Carolina Lawyer, January 2010; "The WARN Act and Implementation of a Reduction In Force," Dealing With Reductions in Force, Aspatore, 2009; "Impeachment of Witnesses: Application of South Carolina Rules of Evidence 608(b) and 609(a)(2)," S.C. L. REV., Vol. 49, No. 5, Summer 1998.

Ms. Durban earned a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1999, where she was inducted into The Order of the Coif. During law school, she served as Associate Articles Editor of the South Carolina Law Review, received CALI Awards for Constitutional Law and Business Crimes, and was a member of the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court and the Order of Wig and Robe.