The first state bar association established in the United States of America was formed in Mississippi in 1821, but the Mississippi Bar as we know it now was formed 100 years ago. Then in 1932, the Mississippi Legislature passed the “Unified Bar Act,” and all lawyers regularly admitted to practice in the courts of the State were made members of its bar and made subject to its professional and ethical regulation.
In the last 32 years four lawyers who began their practices at Daniel Coker Horton & Bell have become president of the bar, including Joy Lambert Phillips, the Bar’s immediate past President and the only woman ever to hold the office in the 174 years of its combined history. Joy Lambert Phillips, who is today the General Counsel of Hancock Bank in Gulfport, Mississippi, and who finalized her year as President just days ago, spoke with us for this issue:
“I am honored to have been selected to this high office by my fellow attorneys, particularly in a state whose bar has produced
so many excellent attorneys. I consider it a privilege to have served as not only the first woman President of the Mississippi
Bar, but also its first in-house counsel President. I learned my profession, like all lawyers, over the course of many years and through many experiences. My foundational training was at Daniel Coker Horton & Bell and I am a better lawyer for the years
I spent there.
Four of the Mississippi Bar’s presidents since 1973 have shared this experience of working for Daniel Coker Horton & Bell.
I am proud that I am one of them and that I had the privilege of working with and learning from two of them, Joe Daniel and
Curtis Coker. Joe Daniel in particular served as a mentor to me and taught me the true meaning of professionalism
and integrity.”
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