Judge Jocelyn Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1977 to fellow Circuit Court Judge, the Honorable Clifton Newman and Patricia Blanton Newman.

She attended public school in Columbia, where she graduated from Spring Valley High School.  After beginning her college career at Duke University, she ultimately earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from the University of South Carolina.

Judge Newman attended law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she was a Merit Scholar.  While in law school, she completed a judicial internship for the Honorable Reggie B. Walton of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  Judge Newman received her Juris Doctor in 2004 and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar the same year.  She is also admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Newman began her legal career as a judicial law clerk for now-retired Circuit Court Judge, the Honorable G. Thomas Cooper, Jr.  She also served as an Assistant Solicitor for the Fifth Judicial Circuit before entering private practice with the law firm of Richardson Plowden & Robinson, P.A. in Columbia.  Judge Newman left Richardson Plowden in late 2015 and was subsequently elected to the Circuit Court bench on February 3, 2016.

Judge Newman has been very active in the legal community.  She has served on the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Bar Foundation, as a Member of the Friends Advisory Board of the Ronald McDonald House, as an Associate Member of the South Carolina Board of Law Examiners, and as a member and treasurer for the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court.  She is a member of the Richland County Bar Association, S.C. Black Lawyers Association, S.C. Women Lawyers Association. 

Judge Newman is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and American Mensa.  She attends I. DeQuincey Newman United Methodist Church in Columbia.