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Daniel Coker traces its origins to 1946 when Joe H. Daniel began his practice in Jackson, Mississippi. The founding partners were members of America’s Greatest Generation, and they all chose to pursue the practice of law after serving in World War II.

Joe H. Daniel was a major in the Marine Corps and was awarded both a Bronze Star and a Silver Star. Curtis E. Coker was also a Marine and served as a private and later a warrant officer. He received a Purple Heart after a major injury to his right hand sustained while saving his commanding officer. Thomas A. Bell, a decorated pilot, was shot down twice while flying B-17s over German-occupied Europe and safely crash-landed with his crew both times. Frank C. Horton served as an Army weather observation officer and shared responsibility for ensuring the safety of U.S. soldiers traveling to fight overseas.

The partners brought to their law practice the same traits of leadership and devotion to duty which they had shown in the military. Their intense commitment to the honorable and courageous defense of their clients–individual and corporate–remains the vision and mission of the firm.

JOE H. DANIEL

JOE H. DANIEL

CURTIS E. COKER

CURTIS E. COKER

THOMAS A. BELL

THOMAS A. BELL

FRANK C. HORTON

FRANK C. HORTON

Daniel Coker’s focus, as it was from the beginning, is litigation. In the 1980s, a leading plaintiffs’ attorney described Daniel Coker as “the tiger defense lawyers in Mississippi.” The firm continues to practice to that standard. For 2013, the Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter (“MJVR”) announced that Daniel Coker attorneys tried more cases in the practice areas followed by that reporter than any other firm in the state, with trials reported in the areas of auto, premises liability, fraud, products liability, and general negligence. Each year from 2014 to 2018, Daniel Coker was named MJVR’s Most Prolific Law Firm. And, according to a recent publication of MJVR, Daniel Coker attorneys tried more cases to jury verdict over the previous eight combined years than any other defense firm in Mississippi.

The founding partners became Mississippi Bar Presidents, Hinds County Bar Presidents, Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and Mississippi Defense Lawyer Association Presidents. This tradition of bar leadership has continued through generations of Daniel Coker lawyers.

The firm’s home office has always been in the centrally located, capital city of Jackson, Mississippi. In 1995, the firm established a second full-service office in Oxford, which serves north Mississippi and surrounding states and is now the largest law office in Lafayette County. In 1997, a third office was opened in Gulfport to serve the Gulf Coast, south Mississippi counties, and adjacent states.

Today, 75 years later, Daniel Coker attorneys continue to provide consistently excellent full-spectrum litigation services to clients in all 82 of Mississippi’s counties and in surrounding states. Daniel Coker includes attorneys licensed to practice law in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee.