Roy D. Campbell III was presented with the Mississippi Bar’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2025 at the organization’s Annual Meeting in Destin. Campbell was nominated by his colleagues and chosen by the Board of Bar Commissioners as this year’s recipient.
The award is presented to individuals who have devoted themselves to serving the public, the legal profession, and the administration of justice over the span of their professional careers, contributing significantly to our system of justice and to the legal profession.
Campbell has retired from practicing law full time after a 50-year career. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law. Roy was admitted to The Mississippi Bar in 1975.
At the time of his retirement, he was a partner in the Jackson office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, where he litigated antitrust, public utility and consumer protection claims, business torts, insurance coverage, and employment disputes. He was lead counsel for more than 100 jury trials.
No stranger to awards, Campbell has received the following recognitions throughout his career:
·The Mississippi Bar Distinguished Service Award
·Mississippi Bar Foundation’s Professionalism Award
·Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
·Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation
·Fellow of the American Bar Association
·Capital Area Bar Association’s Professionalism Award
·Capital Area Bar Association’s Outstanding Service Award
·Listed in The Best Lawyers in America under Litigation for Insurance for nine years, under Personal Injury Litigation for Defendants for 20 years, and as Lawyer of the Year for 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2024
·Listed in Mid-South Super Lawyers under General Litigation for 17 years, and in the Top 50 List for Mississippi for six years
·Listed in Chambers USA, America’s Best Lawyers for Business
·Listed in Benchmark Litigation
·Recognized as a BTI Client Service All-Star
Campbell served as president of the bar in 2015, having served on the Board of Bar Commissioners and as a member of the Executive Committee. His bar activities include service as a James O. Dukes Law School Professionalism Program facilitator, plus service on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, the Bench & Bar Committee, the Bicentennial of Mississippi Judiciary & Legal System Committee, the Budget & Finance Committee, the Convention Review & Analysis Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Professionalism Committee, the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents Planning Committee, and the Strategic Planning Committee.
Campbell is a past chair of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance, and a former member of the Fifth Circuit Bar Association’s Board of Governors. He was a Barrister of the Charles Clark Chapter of the American Inns of Court.
He is also a past president of the Capital Area Bar Association, and he is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Defense Research Institute, the International Association of Defense Counsel, and the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association.
