Phelps Dunbar Partner Honored by Howard University

May 21, 2009

Phelps Dunbar partner Fred L. Banks, Jr. was recently honored with the Justice and Leadership Award by Howard University School of Law for his service to the legal profession and the Mississippi community as a trailblazer and champion of justice and equality in the law. Mr. Banks was presented with the award at the 1869 Founders Reception on May 20 in Jackson. The reception, which paid special tribute to Mr. Banks' life and legacy as a Howard University alumnus, Mississippi judge, legislator and attorney, was part of the year-long celebration for the Law School's 140th anniversary.

Mr. Banks is a senior partner in the general litigation group in the Jackson office. He practices in the areas of commercial litigation, alternative dispute resolution, legislative and governmental relations and appellate law. Mr. Banks is a former Presiding Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court and retired from that position in October 2001. He was appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1991 and served on that court for 11 years. He served as a circuit judge in Hinds and Yazoo counties for six years before that. From 1976 until 1985, Mr. Banks served in the Mississippi House of Representatives as Chair of the Ethics Committee, a Judiciary Committee and the Legislative Black Caucus. Mr. Banks also served as a member of the Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions from 1978 to 1980, and as a member of a number of advisory commissions at the state and federal level. Mr. Banks is among a select group of lawyers, recognized in the category of Litigation: Appellate, listed in a nationwide client survey published in Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business. He is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Phelps Dunbar is a regional law firm of over 260 attorneys, with offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jackson, Tupelo, and Gulfport, Mississippi; Houston, Texas; Tampa, Florida; and London, England.

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