Richard T. Bennett

Practice Areas

• Alternative Dispute Resolution

Professional Distinctions

• AV Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating (since 1981)
• Best Lawyers, Arbitration and Mediation (since 1983)
• Best Lawyers, Bankruptcy Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency Law and Reorganization (since 1983)
• Mid-South Super Lawyers, Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Mid-South Super Lawyers, Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights
• President, The Mississippi Bar Association, 2000
• Board of Directors, American Arbitration Association (2006 Outstanding Director Award)
• Member, Mississippi Advisory Council of the American Arbitration Association
• Special Committee on Judicial Election Campaign Intervention, appointed by James W. Smith Jr., Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court (2006)
• Chairman, Mississippi Bankruptcy Court Mediation Rules Committee
• President, Federal Bar Association, 1996-1998
• President, Hinds County Bar Association, 1983
• President, Mississippi Bankruptcy  Conference, 1981
• Fellow, Mississippi Bar Foundation and Executive Committee
• Fellow, American College of Civil Trial Mediators
• Fellow, Mississippi Bar Young Lawyers Division
• Member, Mississippi Bar Complaint Counsel, 1974-1976
• Commissioner, Mississippi Bar Continuing Legal Education
• Executive Director, Mississippi Bar Legal Services Inc.
• Member, Mississippi Criminal Justice Standars Commission
• Member, Bankruptcy Judge Merit Screening Committee
• President, Clinton Educational Foundation for Excellence Inc.
• Member, Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference Arbitration and Mediation Committee
• Charles Clark Chapter of the American Inns of Court
• Ex officio Member, American Law Institute, 2000-2001
• Member, Gender Fairness Advisory Study Committee
• Co-Chairman, Mississippi Bar Centennial Anniversary Committee, 2005-2006
• Mississippi College Distinguished Alumnus, History and Political Science Department, 2002
• Assistant Dean for Adjunct Faculty, Mississippi College School of Law
• Board of Trustees, Blue Mountain College
• Captain, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Army Reserve, 1969-1976

Publications and Presentations

• AAA University, April 20, 2011, Webinar “Arbitrator Boundaries: What are the Limits of Arbitrator Authority?”
• AAA University, December 8, 2010, New Orleans, Louisiana, “Chairing an Arbitration Panel, Managing Procedures, Process and Dynamics, Program.”
• 2010 AAA/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) Neutrals Conference, November 5-6, 2010, Orlando, Florida, “What Attorneys and Their Clients Want Most from Mediators/Arbitrators: Are You What They’re Looking For?”
• American College of Civil Trial Mediators (ACCTM) 2010 Retreat, July 19-20, 2010, Manchester Village, Vermont, “Stories Mediators Tell,” “Deal or NO Deal: Leveraging Information to Overcome Psychological Barriers to Efficient Deals,” and “Anatomy of a Personal Injury/Worker’s Compensation/Commercial Case.”
• “The Effects of Bankruptcy on a Foreclosure Action,” Foreclosure Law in Mississippi, Univ. of Miss. Inst. for Continuing Studies, Center for Continuing Legal Educ.
• “Environmental Concerns in Bankruptcy Litigation,” 10 Miss. C.L. Rev. 5 (1989)
• “State Variations of Commercial Law-Mississippi,” Digest of Commercial Laws of the World (1985)
• “Historical Sketches of the Early Law School of the University of Mississippi: A Newly Found Memoir,” 37 Miss. L.J. 28 (1965)
• “Beginnings of the Legal Profession in Mississippi,” 36 Miss. L.J. 155 (1965)

Education

• University of Mississippi, J.D., 1965 (Phi Alpha Delta; Omicron Delta Kappa)
• Mississippi College, B.A., History & Political Science, 1961; M.A., History, 1962

Bar Admissions

• Mississippi, 1965
• District of Columbia, 1991