Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James Lawton Robertson died of cancer on December 10, 2023, at his Jackson home, surrounded by the three sons he cherished above all else and the wife he adored. He was 83.
Jimmy Robertson was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, on July 30, 1940, but he grew up in his beloved hometown of Greenville. The Delta city is where the seeds of Jimmy’s professional journey were planted as a cub sports reporter for the Delta Democrat Times, whose legendary editor Hodding Carter, Jr., was an early mentor. After graduating from Greenville High School, Robertson set off to Ole Miss and rose to become editor-in-chief of the Daily Mississippian. In this position, he challenged the school’s approach to race-related matters, and his outspoken editorial policy sparked efforts to impeach him as editor by both the Campus Senate and the Mississippi Legislature. Robertson refused to back down and would go on to be inducted into the Ole Miss Hall of Fame.
Robertson’s journalism career got sidetracked when he was admitted to Harvard Law School. In 1965, he earned his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard. Upon graduation, he returned to Greenville, where he joined the firm of Keady, Campbell and Delong, later Campbell and Delong. He had an extensive trial practice representing school boards, farmers, maritime concerns, and various businesses and corporate clients, and he represented individuals from all walks of life. He felt a duty to seek justice for those who were underserved, a commitment he attributed to the example set by his parents, Susie and L.D. Robertson.
In 1983, Governor William Winter appointed Robertson to fill a vacancy on the Mississippi Supreme Court, after which he was elected for a full eight-year term. Often exhibiting a literary flair, he authored nearly 800 opinions – majority, concurring, and dissenting.
From 1977 to 1992, Robertson was a member of the faculty of the University of Mississippi School of Law. “Judge Jimmy” was devoted to his students and always wanted them to know how much he valued them and hoped that his efforts on their behalf were beneficial. He wished to be remembered for his last-day-of-class thoughts that eventually became a 1983 Mississippi Law Review article, “The Lawyer as Hero.”
Upon leaving the Supreme Court in 1992, Robertson spent a semester in Manhattan as visiting professor at Fordham University School of Law. He considered that assignment the lark of his life, with evenings of opera at Lincoln Center across the street from the law school and early morning runs through Central Park.
In January 1993, he returned to private practice as a shareholder with Wise, Carter, Child & Caraway in Jackson, where he forged many professional friendships and enjoyed mentoring young associates and law clerks as they began their careers. At Wise Carter, he engaged in a general trial practice for 25 years.
A prolific writer, Robertson published numerous scholarly articles. An authority on the Mississippi Constitution, he wrote an entire volume on that topic in the Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law. He also authored two books of more general appeal, Heroes, Rascals, and the Law (2019) and Rowdy Boundaries (2023), published by the University Press of Mississippi. The Capital Area Bar Association newsletter was a favorite outlet for his musings, particularly his reviews of major league baseball parks.
He considered his most significant professional affiliation the life membership in the American Law Institute, and he contributed to the revered Restatements of the Law. He was a Fellow of the American Bar Association and of the Mississippi Bar and a member of the American Inns of Court and numerous other professional organizations. He was also a board member of the Innocence Project New Orleans and the Mississippi Innocence Project at Ole Miss Law School and actively supported their work to seek justice for the victims of wrongful convictions.
For all his academic and professional accomplishments, Robertson showed the same zeal for his private interests. An enthusiastic jogger, he ran countless races in cities from New York to San Francisco, but his favorite running memories were in the company of the Pocahontas Trotters, a Jackson-based club that was more committed to socializing than exercising. A lover of the opera, he traversed the country following performances of his favorites, especially Wagner, and he was President of the Mississippi Opera Association in 1996-97. An ardent sports fanatic, Robertson relished any opportunity to talk about seeing Ted Williams and Bill Russell play in person, or how he was in the press box to watch Johnny Vaught’s greatest football teams and in the stands for both the Billy Cannon punt return and the Bryce Drew buzzer beater, arguably the two most painful lessons ever in what it means to be an Ole Miss fan.
He leaves behind his wife, Linda Thompson Robertson; three sons, Rob (Jenny), Lamar (Lauren), and Chris Robertson; a brother, Dr. L.D. Robertson (Julie) of White Salmon, Washington; two sisters, Dr. Lucie Bridgforth of Olive Branch and Bonnie Gardner (T.Y.) of Madison; and five beautiful and talented grandchildren.
A visitation will be held Saturday, December 16, 2023, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at Wright & Ferguson Funeral Home in Flowood. Burial will be in historic Greenwood Cemetery in downtown Jackson. At a later date, family and friends will meet for a memorial celebration.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that remembrances be made in the form of contributions to the George C. Cochran Innocence Project, University of Mississippi School of Law, 406 University Avenue, Oxford, MS 38655, or to the University Press of Mississippi Endowment Fund or the Greenwood Cemetery Association Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi, 119 S. President Street, Jackson, MS 39201.
