by John Henegan

President Obama has nominated Carlton W. Reeves, Esq., who lives in Terry and practices in Jackson, as United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi to fill the vacancy created when United States District Judge William Barbour assumed senior status. Reeves, a shareholder of Pigott Reeves Johnson P.A., is an experienced trial lawyer who has also devoted countless hours to advancing principles of justice, equity, and fairness in our profession, including, when called to do so, speaking truth to power.

Reeves, a native of Yazoo City, graduated magna cum laude from Jackson State University in 1986 with a B.A. in Political Science. He attended University of Virginia Law School, where he received the Mary Claiborne and Roy H. Ritter Fellowship for outstanding honor, character, and integrity, was a CLEO Fellow, and graduated in 1989. Reeves returned to Mississippi and served as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of Mississippi. He was then with the Phelps Dunbar law firm for four years before serving as Chief of the Civil Division of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Office for nearly six years.

Upon leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Reeves returned to private practice and was a founding member of his current firm. Today he represents individuals, businesses, and public institutions as plaintiffs and defendants in a wide array of complex federal and state court litigation, including employment and equal wage discrimination, civil rights, constitutional torts, election practices, legislative redistricting, commercial litigation, administrative law, legal malpractice, personal injury, mass tort, securities fraud, and appellate matters. He is a member of all state trial and appellate courts of Mississippi, United States District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Mississippi, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United State Supreme Court. He has been since 2007 a Special Master for the Hinds County Chancery Court.

Reeves is a leader of the Magnolia Bar, the Mississippi Bar, and the Capital Area Bar Association. He has also served on numerous judicially-created commissions and organizations and been an adjunct faculty member at Jackson State University and Mississippi College School of Law. He is a past President of the Magnolia Bar Association, a Commissioner on the Mississippi Board of Bar Commissioners, a past member of the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, a Bencher of the Charles Clark Inn of the American Inns of Court, and a recipient of the Pro Bono Service Award of the Hinds County Bar Association. He is married to Lora M. Reeves, and they have a daughter, Chanda.

Reeves’ nomination is a popular choice, and it is anticipated that the Senate Judiciary Committee will in due course confirm his nomination.