Contact: Sammy McDavid
Sebe Dale Jr.
Chancery Judge Sebe Dale Jr. of Columbia is receiving the 2000 Distinguished Jurist Award of Mississippi State University's Pre-Law Society.
Dale, a judge in the 10th District of the Chancery Court of Mississippi, will accept the honor March 28 at an 11 a.m. public program in Simrall Hall auditorium. Following presentation of the award by society president Benjamin A. Needham of Laurel, Dale will deliver an address on an American legal system topic of his choosing.
Also open to the public will be a 2 p.m. question-and-answer session in 115 Bowen Hall in which Dale will discuss general legal issues with Pre-Law Society members.
First presented 24 years ago, the student group's annual award has recognized a diverse list of national, state and local judicial stalwarts. Norma Holloway Johnson, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was last year's honoree. Other recipients have included Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; John J. Frasier Jr., retired chief judge of the Mississippi Court of Appeals; Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; and current state Supreme Court Chief Justice Lenore Prather.
Dale is a Marion County native who holds degrees from Mississippi College and the University of Mississippi School of Law. The 10th chancery district he serves includes Forrest, Lamar, Marion, Pearl River, and Perry counties.
In addition to his duties on the bench, he chairs the Board of Governors of the Mississippi Judicial College. Previously, he headed the Mississippi Judicial Advisory Study Committee and the Mississippi Children's Code Commission, among several other professional leadership roles.
For his accomplishments, Dale received the 1995 Justice Achievement Award of the Mississippi Court Administrators Association, 1996 Mississippi Supreme Court's Chief Justice Award and 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Mississippi Bar Association.