This week, the MC Law class of 2025 will cross the stage at First Baptist Church in Jackson and receive their Juris Doctorate Degree from Dean John Anderson and MC President Blake Thompson.
"We are delighted to celebrate, honor, and recognize the accomplishments of our Class of 2025, who are graduating from Mississippi's oldest institution of higher learning and Mississippi's only capital city law school," Thompson said.
Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jenifer B. Branning is scheduled to address the graduates at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 16, 2025 as the keynote speaker.
"I could not be more pleased to have Jenifer Branning, our state's newest Supreme Court Justice, offer the commencement address to our graduates. As an MC Law alum herself, Justice Branning will inspire our graduates and students. Justice Branning's impressive career-as an accomplished attorney, State Senator, and now member of our highest court-is a testament to all that can be accomplished with hard work, courage, integrity, kindness, and grace," Anderson said.
Justice Branning earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from Mississippi State University before earning a J.D. from Mississippi College School of Law. During law school, she served as a clerk for the Mississippi Secretary of State Division of Business Regulation and Enforcement. She was admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 2004. Branning had a private law practice in Philadelphia, Mississippi for 20 years, handling real estate transactions, business transactional work and estate planning. She was elected to the Mississippi Supreme Court on November 26, 2024, and took the oath of office on January 6, 2025.
“As a proud MC Law alumnus, it is a great honor to deliver the keynote address at the 2025 commencement ceremony”, Branning said.
Justice Branning previously served for nine years as a Mississippi State Senator, representing District 18 of Neshoba and parts of Leake and Winston counties. She was Chair of the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee and Vice-Chair of the Government Structure Committee. She also served on the following committees: Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency, Appropriations, Business and Financial Institutions, Economic and Workforce Development, Forestry, and Judiciary A. In previous years, she served as Chair of the Elections committee, Vice-Chair of the Forestry Committee, and as Chair of various Appropriations sub-committees. Branning also served on the Mississippi Prepaid College Tuition Board, the Mississippi Women’s Task Force and the Southern Legislative Conference Committee on Economic Development, Transportation, and Cultural Affairs.
Dean Emeritus Jim Rosenblatt said: "I am impressed with the manner in which Justice Branning has engaged the legal community and the broader community. In addition to serving as the MC Law Commencement speaker, in her first months on the bench she has presided over the Bar Admission ceremony for new attorneys, spoken to numerous local bar associations, presented at Continuing Legal Education programs, talked to civil groups when they visited the Supreme Court, and invited school children to the Court to hear oral arguments. I look forward to her comments at her hometown Neshoba County Fair each year as well. She is truly a judge of the people."
Justice Branning received the Friend of Transportation Award from the Mississippi Department of Transportation in 2024 and the Friend of Agriculture Award from Farm Bureau in 2021. She was named the 2019 Legislator of the Year by the Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission, and named the 2018 Legislator of the Year by the Mississippi Forestry Association.
View the livestream of the MC Law 2025 commencement ceremony HERE
