Mary Libby Payne

    Mary Libby Payne, Judge of the Court of Appeals 1995-2001, was a professor of law and founding dean of the Mississippi College School of law.

    Payne attended Mississippi University for Women for two years, then earned a bachelor of arts degree, with distinction, with a major in political science from from the University of Mississippi. She also holds the juris doctor degree from the School of law at Ole Miss, finishing first in her class. She was Casenote editor of the Law Journal staff and chairman of the Moot Court  Board at Ole Miss. She practiced law in Jackson and Brandon and has served each branch of state government: as legislative draftsman, as executive director of the Mississippi Judiciary Commission and as an assistant attorney general for the State of Mississippi.

    Active in her community and profession, she has served on the board of Mississippi Bar commissioners, Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, national Christian Legal Society, Distinguished Alumnae of MUW, Christian Conciliation Service, Exchange Club's Child Abuse Prevention Center of Jackson, Covenant Ministerial Fellowship, St. Jude's Day Care Center in Pearl, Metropolitan Youth for Christ, and Mississippi Association for Women in Higher Education.

    In 1987, MUW bestowed upon her its Alumnae Achievement Award. In 1988, she received life membership in the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, a group that sponsors legal research for the American Bar Association. Membership is limited to one-third of 1 percent of all lawyers. In 1989, she was named "Woman of the Year" by the Mississippi Association for Women in Higher Education and recipient of the Pearl Exchange Club's Book of Golden Deeds. In 1990 MUW gave her its highest award, the Medallion of Excellence. In the 1996 Governor's Conference on Women, she was honored as a person exhibiting "The Power of One." In 1998, she was named Mississippi College Lawyer of the Year by the Mississippi College School of Law Alumni Association. In 1999, she was named Outstanding Woman Lawyer by the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association and she received Christian Legal Society's "Skeeter" Ellis Award for outstanding service to law students presented by Law Student Ministries Division of CLS. At the Mississippi Bar convention in 2000, she was given the "Susie Blue Buchanan Award" by the Women in the Profession Committee for professional excellence and encouragement of other women in their legal careers. MSU's Stennis Center has often designated her as a "Pacesetter"  at their Conference on Southern Women in Public Service. In 2002, Payne received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Christian Legal Society at its national conference. She is the only woman ever to receive this award.

    Judge Payne is married to Bobby R. Payne, retired director of central records for the Mississippi Employment Security Commission. They are parents of two sons. The couple is active in the McLaurin Heights Baptist Church in Pearl.

    She and Bob (known as the Keyfinders) lead seminars on time and stress management and the problems and delights of the dual career marriage.

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Last Updated: Thursday, March 16, 2006 2:30 PM