Every year during Spring Semester, PLS officers select an MSU Distinguished Jurist Award Winner. PLS established the Award in 1977. Though there is no set criteria for winning the award, PLS usually gives great consideration to lawyers and judges who attended Mississippi State, who have a connection with the university, or who have attained great national prominence as a judge or lawyer and may not have received the recognition PLS feels he or she deserves.
PLS welcomes nominations from all Mississippi State alumni. To nominate, please email the nominee's name and a brief description of the reason the person is being nominated to msuprelawsociety@gmail.com.
| Past Recipients of the Distinguished Jurist Award | |
|---|---|
| 1977 | Justice Tom Clark, United States Supreme Court |
| 1978 | Judge Frank Johnson, United States District Court (M.D. Ala.) |
| 1979 | Judge William Keady, United States District Court (N.D. Miss.) |
| 1980 | Judge Orma Smith, United States District Court (N.D. Miss) |
| 1981 | Hon. Archibald Cox, Harvard Law professor, Watergate prosecutor, Solicitor General of the United States |
| 1982 | Chief Judge J.P. Coleman, United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and former Governor of Mississippi |
| 1983 | Judge Griffin Bell, United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and former Attorney General of the United States |
| 1984 | Chief Justice Neville Patterson, Mississippi Supreme Court |
| 1985 | Chief Judge Charles Clark, United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals |
| 1986 | Judge Robert Broomfield, United States District Court (Ariz.) |
| 1987 | Judge Kaliste Saloom, Jr., City of Lafayette, Louisiana |
| 1988 | Chief Justice Mary S. Coleman, Michigan Supreme Court |
| 1989 | Chancellor Robert Oswald, Sixteenth District of Mississippi |
| 1990 | Hon. Edward H. Levi, former Attorney General of the United States and President Emeritus of the University of Chicago |
| 1991 | Justice Lenore Prather, Mississippi Supreme Court |
| 1992 | Judge U.W. Clemon, United States District Court (N.D. Ala.) |
| 1993 | Judge William Webster, United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency |
| 1994 | Chief Judge Edward Robinson, Jr., Missouri Supreme Court |
| 1995 | Judge Rosemary Barkett, United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals |
| 1996 | Chancellor John C. Love, Jr., Sixth District of Mississippi and Chairman of Mississippi Judicial Performance Commission |
| 1997 | Chief Judge John J. Fraiser, Jr., Mississippi Court of Appeals |
| 1998 | Justice Antonin Scalia, United States Supreme Court |
| 1999 | Chief Judge Norma H. Johnson, United States District Court (D.C.) |
| 2000 | Chancellor Sebe Dale, Jr., Tenth District of Mississippi |
| 2001 | Judge Gary Schmidt, Circuit Court of Moniteau County, Missouri |
| 2002 | Chief Justice Edwin L. Pittman, Mississippi Supreme Court |
| 2003 | Judge William Alsup, United States District Court (N.D. Cal.) |
| 2004 | Judge Mary Libby Payne, Mississippi Court of Appeals |
| 2005 | Judge Keith Starrett, United States District Court (S.D. Miss.) |
| 2006 | Chief Justice Frank Williams, Rhode Island Supreme Court |
| 2007 | Chief Judge Leslie King, Mississippi Court of Appeals |
| 2008 | Judge Elizabeth P. Hines, State of Michigan, Fifteenth Judicial District |
| 2009 | Chief Justice William L. (Bill) Waller, Mississippi Supreme Court |
