Court of Appeals Judges


Judge Jim Greenlee Judge
Jim M. Greenlee
District 1, Position 1

Judge Jim Ming Greenlee was born and raised in Batesville, Mississippi. He joined the Mississippi Court of Appeals on Jan. 20, 2016, upon his appointment by Gov. Phil Bryant to serve through December of 2016. Judge Greenlee was elected in November 2016 to continue his service on the Court through December of 2022.

Judge Greenlee previously served as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi from 2001 to 2010. As U.S. Attorney, he led that office which prosecuted public corruption cases, judicial influence cases, major drug distribution networks, violent gun crime cases and assisted in the cold case investigation of the murder of Emmett Till. As U.S. Attorney, he served on the Advisory Committee to the Attorney General of the United States.

His service with the U.S. Department of Justice spanned 22 years. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s office from 1987 until 2001. He became the lead civil fraud attorney, trying bankruptcy, tort, employment rights, eminent domain, and white-collar criminal cases. Greenlee was in the private practice of law in Southaven from 1981 to 1987, and in Oxford from 2010 to 2016.

Judge Greenlee graduated from South Panola High School in 1970. Having been awarded a Navy ROTC Scholarship, he earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Mississippi in 1974. He served on active duty in the U.S. Navy from 1974 to 1978. Returning to Ole Miss, he studied at the Law School, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1981. Greenlee served in the U.S. Navy Reserve until 1997, retiring at the rank of Captain, USN.

He is the son of the late Thomas S. and Margaret “Bill” Greenlee of Batesville. His wife is the former Ann Veazey of Coldwater. Ann and Jim have two daughters, Veazey and Taylor, two sons-in-law, Andy Hillmer and Jeff Kilgore, and four grandchildren. Ann and Jim are members of Oxford University United Methodist Church where Jim teaches an adult Sunday School class.