MSU Distinguished Jurist Award going to founding MC dean

Contact: Sammy McDavid

A retired state appeals court judge and first dean of a Jackson-based law school is this year's honoree of the Mississippi State University Pre-Law Society.

During campus ceremonies Tuesday [March 9], Mary Libby Payne of Pearl becomes the 28th person receiving a distinguished jurist award from the student organization for future legal professionals. The founding dean of Mississippi College's School of Law will accept the distinctive plaque in a public program to begin at 11 a.m. in the John Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library.

Preceding presentation of the honor by society president Matthew L. Anderson of Coushatta, La., Payne will address the audience on a legal topic of her choosing. Later, at 2 p.m. in 180 McCain Hall, she and society members will engage in a roundtable discussion--also open to the public--of current legal issues.

First presented to retired U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Tom C. Clark in 1977, the Pre-Law Society recognition includes both sitting and retired jurists at all levels of service. Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox; former U.S. attorneys general Griffin Bell, Edward Levi and William Webster; Mississippi chancery judge Sebe Dale Jr.; and District of Columbia federal district judge Norma Holloway Johnson have been among earlier honorees.

Payne, who was law dean 1975-94, continues to serve Mississippi College as a scholar-in-residence who is helping to write a history of the Baptist-affiliated institution. She was a member of the Mississippi Court of Appeals 1995-2001.

Even before Payne was appointed to state appeals court, she had practiced in all three branches of state government. She served as a legislative draftsman, executive director of the Mississippi Judiciary Commission and an assistant attorney general.

After attending Mississippi University for Women for two years, Payne transferred to the University of Mississippi, where she graduated, with distinction, in political science. She later finished first in her class at the Ole Miss law school. She subsequently completed additional study at New York University and the National Judicial College.

The MSU Pre-Law Society award joins a long list of honors garnered earlier by the Rankin County resident. Among them are MUW's Alumnae Achievement Award, life membership in the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation and the Susie Blue Buchanan Award of the Mississippi Bar Association. Additionally, she is the only woman to date receiving the Christian Legal Society's Lifetime Achievement Award.

The society's sponsorship of the distinguished jurist award program is supported by the MSU President's Office and College of Arts and Sciences.

For additional information on the awards program, telephone Diane Wall of the MSU political science department at (662) 325-2711.