Investiture ceremony for Judge David McCarty set for March 27

News

March 19, 2019

An investiture ceremony will be held for Judge David Neil McCarty on March 27 at 10 a.m. in the Court of Appeals Courtroom at the Gartin Justice Building in Jackson.

Court of Appeals Chief Judge Donna M. Barnes will preside over the ceremony. Supreme Court Presiding Justice James W. Kitchens will recognize members of the Supreme Court, Mississippi Court of Appeals and other officials.

Judge James E. Graves Jr. of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will administer the ceremonial oath to Judge McCarty. McCarty’s first experience in appellate work was as a law clerk for then-Justice Graves on the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Guest speakers will be U.S. District Court Judge Carlton W. Reeves; Dean Patricia Bennett, president of the Mississippi Bar and dean of Mississippi College School of Law; and William B. Bardwell, senior staff attorney of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Judge McCarty also will speak.

Attorney Danielle Love Burks of Wise Carter Child & Caraway will give an opening prayer and verse. Rev. C. Edwards “C.J.” Rhodes, II, of Mount Helm Baptist Church will deliver the benediction.

Judge McCarty, of Jackson, was elected in November 2018 to the Court of Appeals from District 4, which covers 13 southwest and south central counties and parts of Hinds and Jones counties. He took office Jan. 7. Before election, he was a solo practitioner who focused on appeals and complex litigation. He has handled numerous appeals before the Court of Appeals of Mississippi, the Mississippi Supreme Court, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge McCarty helped co-found the Appellate Practice Section of the Mississippi Bar, and from 2014 to 2015 was chair of the Section.

In his early career, he served as a law clerk to Justice Graves. He also served as a law clerk for former Presiding Justice Oliver E. Diaz, Jr. He was admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 2004.

He is an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law, having taught courses in trial practice, evidence, pretrial practice, appellate advocacy and legal writing since 2005. He was honored as the Adjunct Professor of the Year for 2016-17. Judge McCarty is the author of the Evidence chapter of the Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law, and is a contributing author to the treatise Mississippi Civil Procedure. He regularly presents continuing legal education topics on appellate advocacy and ethics.

He earned his J.D. from Mississippi College School of Law in 2004, graduating cum laude. He was Articles Editor on the Law Review and Competition Chair of the Moot Court. He received a B.A. in political science from Mississippi State University.

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