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Hope Mississippi
A bimonthly podcast educating Mississippians about the needs of fellow citizens, encouraging residents to work together to change the trajectory of our families and children, and sharing success stories.
Hope Mississippi
Stories for the State Bar - Part Two
At the 2025 Mississippi State Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam interviewed over 20 people in 3 days to bring you a special 7-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast.
The foundation of hope often lies in the belief that tomorrow can be better than today—and that you can play a role in making it so.
This powerful concept comes alive in Part Two of our Stories from the State Bar series, through intimate conversations with three Mississippi Chancery Judges who reveal how justice, fairness, and personal commitment create pathways to hope across our communities.
Judge E. Vincent Davis opens with profound insights on consistency from the bench. "When people feel like they got a fair shake, they're okay with it," he explains, highlighting how perception shapes hope. Davis doesn't shy away from acknowledging the challenges facing rural Mississippi, where fewer attorneys mean barriers to court access. His response? Planting seeds in young people's minds about legal careers—seeds that may take years to sprout but eventually bear fruit, just as they did in his own journey.
From the small town of Lucedale comes Judge Mark A. Maples, whose story embodies service-oriented leadership. Raised by a circuit judge father who asked nightly, "What good deed did you do today?" Maples carries this legacy into his approach to family conflicts. With wisdom from his 36 years in private practice, he views each case as good people at difficult crossroads seeking solutions. "Find your passion. Try to leave things better than you found them," he challenges listeners, offering a straightforward formula for creating hope.
Judge Cynthia L. Brewer's remarkable journey from a broken military family to the chancery bench demonstrates resilience in action. Moving constantly as a child, she developed a mission "to make people like me" that evolved into making a difference through law. Her late husband's charge to "uplift everyone who comes into your life" continues to guide her judicial philosophy. A recipient of the prestigious Susie Buchanan Award (2025), Judge Brewer advocates for supporting women in law while celebrating the joy of mentoring new attorneys.
These conversations illuminate how hope flourishes when people believe in fair processes, commit to serving others, and dedicate themselves to improving their communities. What difference will you make today? How might your actions create ripples of hope that extend far beyond what you can see? The path begins with a simple commitment: leave the world better than you found it.
Hope Mississippi's Mission: The sobering reality remains: one in four Mississippi children lives in poverty, and one in five experiences food insecurity. These statistics aren't just numbers—they're our collective challenge. Through these conversations, we discover that Mississippi's transformation occurs through individual commitments to mentor, encourage, and be present for others. The small acts of hope accumulate into the broader "miracles" we celebrate.
Join us for new episodes on the 1st and 15th of each month as we continue sharing stories of transformation from across Mississippi. Each story reminds us that when we contribute our unique gifts, Mississippi rises together.
When you need some hope and inspiration To build collaboration. Hope Mississippi is your salvation.
Speaker 2:One in four kids live in poverty. One in five are food deprived.
Speaker 3:Build collaborations and build hope With those who are struggling.
Speaker 1:Hope Mississippi.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome back to the Mississippi Bar Convention, where I am sitting here visiting with Judge Vincent Davis. I'm reminded that now you're a Chancery Judge and you're seeing it from a different position. Nothing like sitting on that bench and trying to do the right thing every day. Tell me how you approach that. How do you have the answers that so many people need to hear day to day?
Speaker 4:Well, you know, I try to be practical. The thing about chance for equity is you know that we are a court of equity. You know that basically means that it's doing what we think is fair, although we have factors and we must always follow the law. Equity in my mind sometimes just boils down to common sense and I always tell myself that I'm going to call it the way I see it, regardless as to who you are or where you live or anything else. I'm going to call it the way that I see it, and sometimes people don't care for that, but when I do that, at the end of the day I feel comfortable.
Speaker 4:I had a guy just last week. He's filed a lawsuit against a I'm just going to say, a large company. He is representing himself. His question to me during a conference call with himself and the attorney for the company was you know, he told me that I'm representing myself. Will you be lenient towards me? And I just told him I said well, I understand that you are not an attorney and I have to take into consideration. However, at the end of the day, you know, if I let you not follow the law when everyone else does, then I'm not keeping my oath, because I have an oath that I must keep and I must treat everybody the same. If I allow you to not follow the rules of evidence, I have to allow the company to do the same thing. If I do it in this case, then somebody else is going to say well, judge, you did it. In that case, then you know you need to allow me to do it and I try to be consistent across the board that when people come to Fort Ming they see and know what they're going to get, because I try to be consistent and when you're consistent, that tells people that you know there is hope. They don't have to worry about whether you're going to be one sided. But you know there is hope. They don't have to worry about whether you're going to be one-sided. They don't have to worry about it. Depends upon, again, what lawyer you get or whatever. If you have a judge who's willing to apply the law.
Speaker 4:And sometimes what I've discovered and not always, but most times I've discovered that as long as you give people their day in court, you give them the opportunity to be heard. If they feel like they got a fair shake, they're okay with it. You know they are okay with it. You know, as long as you feel like they feel like you have been fair and you have given them a fair shake, and that's what I've tried to do, I guess, my whole life.
Speaker 4:What I have discovered, though, I guess I'm in chance record. You know there's a big difference between chance record and circuit court. Usually the ones in circuit court I mean chance record. You know, a lot of times they don't, they don't care for losing they. You know it's a different world there, because there you're talking about taking away somebody's stuff you know their, you know their children or whatever and giving it away to someone that they can't stand anymore, whereas in circuit court, for the most part, you know I never had those kinds of issues. You know I've been part of prosecuting people for murder cases that have been found guilty and you know they've written me nice letters from parts of the predatory I totally agree.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm reminded that a lot of our violence in the courtroom is in the, because the emotions are just so raw. Looking at your role as a chancellor and looking at Mississippi, what do you see are the challenges to bring hope throughout Mississippi?
Speaker 4:The challenges. For the most part, again, I would probably think it's going to go back to, probably, perception. You know, if people have the perception that they're going to get a fair shake, then they will have hope. You know, in the United States, you know, we saw a lot of differences either at the courthouse or at the ballot boxes and if people feel like they've participated in a fair process, then they'll have hope. You're talking about chance record, it being a, I guess, volatile situation sometimes. I guess volatile situations sometimes, but in the end, if they feel like, although they may really dislike the result, if they feel like it was fair, they may be disappointed, they may be angry, but they'll move on. So I think a lot of it deals with perception. The problem I have is that sometimes attorneys will give their clients false hope. They will blame the courts rather than themselves or rather than the facts. I think I'm seeing where more and more attorneys are probably realizing, you know, the error of their ways, or realizing what some of the other attorneys may have been doing, and they're trying to correct that. Because the more you go to seminars and CLEs where they talk about these kinds of things and attempt to address these types of problems. You know the ethics classes. That talks about their ethical responsibilities and their obligations. Hopefully, the better things we'll get. We have a unique problem, I guess, in rural counties as opposed to the more urban areas, because we do not have as many attorneys and we have fewer and fewer attorneys and the attorneys that are retiring or dying or whatever, there's no one to replace them and if we don't have attorneys to represent people, then people may have those obstacles getting into court and if they face obstacles getting into court they will have the perception that they have no hope. So I think part of what's going to be trying to interest more people into going into the legal field we don't have as many people going to law as they used to be.
Speaker 4:Just a few weeks ago well, this is July the week of June 9th through the 13th or so, I held a. Well, I didn't do it, but I was part of a pre-law academy a mislead pre-law academy that I sort of spearheaded to try to interest high school students into going into the field of law, whether it be attorneys or court reports and so on and so forth, to try to plant that seed into the minds of young people, just like. When I was in high school, someone planted that seed. It didn't take, you know. It didn't start to grow at that point.
Speaker 4:But as time passed, that seed that was planted, some could swear along the way, it got watered, and then, somewhere a little later along the way you know, the sun started shining on it. And somewhere later, you know that seed popped out the ground and you know you had growth. And next thing you know, you know that seed popped out the ground and you know you had growth. And next thing, you know, you know there was fruit, and that fruit is sitting in front of you right now.
Speaker 3:So our challenge to our audience is to number one. If you're a young person out there, we need good lawyers, we need good judges, and if you know someone that has those qualities, encourage them to be a part of the legal system. We celebrate the judges and the lawyers and all the folks that are part of the judicial system because, you're right, there is hope when everyone is dealt with in a fair manner and as much as we can. There's not a perfect trial, there's not a perfect judge, but when people know that they will receive justice and that everybody's doing their very best, that's when there's hope in Mississippi and it's rewarding for all of us, isn't it?
Speaker 4:I totally agree with you. I totally agree with you.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much for joining me today, judge Davis, and I hope you have a great time at the bar.
Speaker 4:I want to thank you for your service and I want to thank you for this podcast. I think that what you're doing is something great, it's something that's needed and I thank you, Hope.
Speaker 1:Mississippi is your salvation.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome back to the Mississippi Bar Convention. I am thrilled to have Chancery Judge Mark Maples here. Judge, welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Justice Beam Glad to be here.
Speaker 3:Well, we were just talking out in the hallway about the blessing of our families and how, when we talk about our roots and are raised to bring hope to other people, it's just a natural thing. Tell me a little bit about your family, where you're from.
Speaker 2:Thank you, ma'am. I was born and raised in Lousetail in George County, mississippi. Both of my parents were from that area. My father was a circuit judge for about 30 years. My mother was a registered nurse all of her working career. So my brother and I grew up seeing their example of helping people and we were taught to help people. My daddy every night asked us what good deed we did for someone that day. So that was instilled in me at an early age and as I was graduating high school and entering college, trying to think about what career path I may travel on, I thought about law because I'd been able to see my dad and what all he did in my working career. Having grown up in Losedale, or actually on the outskirts of Losedale, I wanted to go as far away from there as I could and I came to Pascagoula and I worked down in Jackson and Harrison County for four years and then I returned to Losedale where I had a solo practitioner office. I did that 36 years and now I'm working with the Chantry Court office.
Speaker 3:I did that 36 years and now I'm working with the Chantre Court. Wow, you know, a judge one time told me, george Warner from Lauderdale County. He said your greatest joy will come in serving others and as I think about the practice of law, that is a great way to serve others and make a difference.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 2:It is One time when I was in my first year of law school I was having a conversation with now deceased former Supreme Court Justice Gillespie Virgil Gillespie and I asked him what this was in 79 or 80, and I asked him what advice he would have to give to a young lawyer.
Speaker 2:In a couple of years I'd be graduating. He thought a minute. He knew I was from Lousetail. He was from a small town north of Meridian and he said if I had it to do over again, I would go to a small town like Lousetail. He said you won't get rich, but you will make a good living and you will be able to get involved in your community, take part in things that help people and benefit those in the community, and you will make a good living. That is what I did in my law career. I was able to get involved in things. I didn't get rich, but my wife and I have had a good family and provided a good living for our three children and it's a wonderful, wonderful time to serve and be of service to other people.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. You know, I was telling you that I recently went back into private practice and the other day I got a load of watermelons. Somebody gave me and you never, know, Dollars are not always what you trade in. That's right. That's right to be able to be a part of taking somebody from a crisis to come and order, and that's just one wonderful thing about law practice.
Speaker 2:Right and you know, justice Beam. You previously served on the Chantry bench yourself and that's where I am now. I'm in my seventh year and people, as you know, in Chantry court are usually good people that are at a spot, a point in time in their lives they have a problem, whether it's a divorce or an estate or whatever it may be, but good people at a spot where they need help solving a problem. And I approach each and every case that way. For example, john and Mary are brothers and sisters in an estate. We've got a problem. What is our problem? What is our disagreement? What is our common ground? What can we do to solve this problem? Resolve the case so they can literally exit the door of the courtroom and the courthouse and go on with their lives. And I approach every case that way.
Speaker 3:Well, that's the great thing about the United States and our judicial system is we resolve conflict through the court system, and so it brings number one you can contract knowing that you can go to the court and they can enforce that, that everybody stands on equal footing, that it does rich, poor, all of those things are part of our oath.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right. I encourage people, often in the courtroom, to learn how to treat each other with dignity and respect, especially in family situations and when people can do that and communicate with each other.
Speaker 3:Communication is such a key thing, I think sometimes, when we allow them to testify and get all of that out, there's healing there.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3:This podcast is a part of Hope Rising Mississippi, the idea that tomorrow can be better than today and you can help make it so day. And you can help make it so as we think about folks listening to this, whether that be law students or lay people that just are trying to find how they can make a difference in Mississippi. What's your challenge to them?
Speaker 2:Well, I would encourage them to find their passion. Find things they are passionate about causes, issues. Get involved in the community. Try to make a difference. Try to leave things in a better way than in which they found a situation, and do not be afraid to get involved. Be a part of finding solutions to whatever problems or issues may exist.
Speaker 3:You help folks, but at the same time there's a tremendous amount of blessing that comes with that.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 3:What your mom and dad wanted you to understand.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right Give of yourself to help others.
Speaker 3:I know they would be proud of you today.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for sharing with Mississippi your own experience with hope and also the challenge for other folks to get involved, to be that blessing, to be that hope.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, Justice Beam, for this opportunity to speak with you and to help encourage people along this way.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Welcome back. We're at the Mississippi Bar Convention and I am here with my dear friend, judge Cynthia Brewer. Hello today.
Speaker 5:Hello back. Thank you for that dear friend part, because you are my dear friend.
Speaker 3:When I saw you out there in the hallway I said I have got to get that sweet lady on. Let's talk a little bit about you. And then I want to talk about Charlie Brewer. Where did you grow up? Just a little bit about your background.
Speaker 5:Surely I'd be glad to. I am a person who has been in practice since 1985. So I do have a long history, not only in the membership of the bar, but I also have an investment in life. I come from a broken family. My father was a military man and I followed him from base to base. So we moved a lot and it became my mission in life to make people like me. And it became my mission in life to make people like me whether it was a new school or a new location, a new state, people who didn't want a man to have a child by himself. I made them like me. So I moved from California to Arizona, to Georgia, to Tennessee, and then my dad had some circumstances where he let my grandmother rear me for several years in Mobile, alabama.
Speaker 3:You know that reminds me that none of us stand alone. There are lots of people that come into our lives to pour hope and encouragement into our lives, and a lot of us have grandmothers that were like that.
Speaker 5:The extended need for family members in today's society is greater than ever before.
Speaker 3:Well, you as a chance re-judge. I'm sure you see that every day.
Speaker 5:As you did when you were a chancellor.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and so we say thank you to those folks that invest in our kids, and you never know who might change the world. The goal is for all of us to change the world right.
Speaker 5:Exactly, and we want every generation to be better than what I saw or what I was able to achieve. I want this next generation to do great things.
Speaker 3:The idea to leave the world better than you found it. That's a great way to describe it. Well, we certainly want to encourage folks that are listening that, as you hear Judge Brewer's story, think about how you might, could, be that person. Now. I knew your husband, judge Charlie Brewer, before I met you, and just tell us a little bit about Judge Brewer and his charge to you.
Speaker 5:Charles was my boss when I was a prosecutor. So when we became husband and wife, he told me. He said every person that comes into your life you need to uplift them, whether they're having a bad day, need something from you, and there will be times for you to be able to do that. I want you to do it, promise me. So. He had seen this young lawyer in front of him and her first name was Dawn. So then he finds out that she's going to be a justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court and that I should take care of her. I'm like what?
Speaker 3:Don't.
Speaker 5:And you did. Well, when you were going through the process to be the nomination before it all became ready, and you were a chancellor and we were talking that night and you were going through the process and I said what will it take?
Speaker 3:Charles, and I want to do this. He told me to take care of you. Well, all of us are a product of women or people that have invested in us. But I'm reminded that here, at this bar convention, you are getting the Susie Buchanan Award, so let's talk a little bit about being a female lawyer, the importance of females encouraging other females.
Speaker 5:What a great thing. Obviously, when I started practice, we had fewer females and we had a conversation about what will it take to have your male counterparts appreciate you more rather than look down upon you as someone who's just looked to get a husband or will make babies and leave so quickly and will never see again and to be able to uplift one another in times of crisis, whether it be like my husband passing away or getting sick, or whether it might be when you need to take some time off with a baby. Children need that empathy time and if we can give it to the mothers or to the women lawyers, that's what we do best Women do that best, absolutely.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm reminded so many people came before us Evelyn Gandy, governor Gandy, she used to encourage me along the way, but those women really took those hard steps to pave the way for me and for you. But we still, women are different from men. We have different responsibilities and men are different from me.
Speaker 5:We have different responsibilities and men are different from me because they have a different unique viewpoint that comes either by biologic means or by the method by which they were reared. I had a unique circumstance where I did not have a female in the home, less than except the three years with my grandmother, and all I knew was male things. So I knew how to change a tire, knew how to change the oil, those things, but I never learned to cook and the empathy I get from women now is like well, I can teach you. I don't get offered the other way around, but you will see that if you work hard and you dedicate whatever it is that you have a desire to dedicate. I want to be a prosecutor and then a judge and make it your mission to be good at it or at least be educated at it. People respect that, whether they be male or female.
Speaker 3:Right, and you know, I'm reminded that we don't just charge forward with what we accomplish, but the more folks that we can bring along the way, the better we all are.
Speaker 5:Amen, Amen. Well spoken and truly. That is the goal in life is to treat our brother as we would have them. Treat me Absolutely.
Speaker 3:So, as we celebrate you, this bar convention, with this prestigious award, we encourage the folks out there be the difference, pull somebody along along the way. Who knows, they may end up being a chancery judge or a supreme court justice or anything, just to make the world better than we found it.
Speaker 5:The best thing is to swear in a new lawyer, see them go into practice, see them blossom their practice, expand, and then turn around and see me and run toward me and give me a hug there. There is nothing better than that.
Speaker 3:I could not agree more. Thank you all for joining us and thank you, my sweet friend.
Speaker 1:My honor. Thank you for asking Hope.
Speaker 5:Mississippi.
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