Contact: Sammy McDavid
Gary Schmidt
Former Missouri judge Gary Schmidt is receiving the 2001 Distinguished Jurist Award of Mississippi State's Pre-Law Society.
Schmidt, who retired in 1999 as associate circuit judge of Moniteau County, Mo., will accept the honor March 20 at an 11 a.m. public program in the John Grisham Room of the university's Mitchell Memorial Library.
Following presentation of the award by society president Christopher E. Everett of Ocean Springs, Schmidt 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 the 1974 University of Missouri Law School graduate will discuss general legal issues with Pre-Law Society members.
Schmidt currently serves as corporations counsel for the state of Missouri and as an adjunct professor of paralegal studies at William Woods University in Fulton.
First presented 25 years ago, the MSU student group's annual award has recognized a diverse list of national, state and local judicial stalwarts. Mississippi Chancery Court Judge Sebe Dale Jr. of Columbia was last year's honoree. Others 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 former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Lenore Prather.
Schmidt is former president of both the Missouri Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges and the Associate Judge Section of the Judicial Conference of Missouri. As vice chair in 1991 of the Probate and Trust Committee of the Missouri Bar, he played a major role in developing legislation on durable power of attorney, often referred to as the "living will."
A 1969 history and political science honors graduate of Westminster College, also in Fulton, Schmidt now resides in the state capital of Jefferson City.
For additional information, telephone Diane Wall at (662) 325-2711/7864.