As an undergraduate student at Tougaloo College, Dean Emerita Patricia W. Bennett so greatly impressed the faculty that years later at least one of her mentors still held her out as “the benchmark for discipline, integrity, and intellectual curiosity.” Those are among the hallmarks that define her career.
As a new attorney and young Army judge advocate, she began a path of dedicated public service. A series of increasingly impactful opportunities to serve would follow: assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi; special assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi; assistant district attorney for the Mississippi Seventh Circuit Court District; president of The Mississippi Bar Association; president of the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit; and president of the Charles Clark American Inn of Court.
Throughout each of those tenures, it was unquestioned by those around Bennett that, “Her decisions were never influenced by a person’s position, ethnicity, or station in life, but rather by fairness, principle, and the rule of law.”
That uniformed service launched her legal career. As a young prosecutor, “she was a tough, formidable prosecutor, but she was always respectful to everyone in the courtroom. Her calm, deliberate demeanor was perfectly appropriate for a trial attorney,” one judge observed.
She has relentlessly given back to the profession. Throughout her career, Bennett has prioritized mentorship. Despite the business of her own career, she continues to mentor law students at the Mississippi Christian University School of Law, previously Mississippi College. She is “a ready resource assisting lawyers as they embark on their careers…a resource to judges on the bench as they request assistance from the law school, all while she manages to juggle a challenging career.”
When Bennett served as chairperson of the Charles Clark American Inn of Court, the Inn received recognition for its outstanding pupillage programs, a direct result of the focus Bennett placed on ensuring the Inn fulfilled its intended purpose. A critical component of the British model, she sought to instill the cross-generational passing of the finest skills and attributes of advocates. Those around her cannot help but be awestruck by how she “takes seriously her responsibility to strengthen the legal profession—not just for those currently practicing, but for the next generation of lawyers who will carry its standards forward.”
Accurately described as “both a thinker and a worker,” it would be impossible to tell the story of Bennett’s impact on the law without focusing on her time with the Mississippi College School of Law (MCL). Leading a law school through the COVID pandemic was hard enough, but against the complexity of the ABA’s accreditation process and the reality of an overall nationwide decline in law school enrollment, Bennett regularly assured the board of trustees, “All is well at MC Law.” And it was. “Dean Bennett was at the helm…dedicated to preparing our students for their future careers, focused on scholarly achievement, and committed to serving our community and the legal profession.” One fellow professor observed that Bennett, in her professorial role, “demanded excellence while cultivating confidence. She did not merely teach doctrine; she taught professionalism as a lived responsibility.”
Her impact went beyond the school’s walls or even the community of practitioners it fed. One attorney observed that, while on their high school’s mock trial team, even with a county judge and U.S. Court of Appeals judge leading them, “whenever a concept was too difficult for those experienced jurists to explain to us, they called Dean Bennett to assist. She was our mock trial team’s secret weapon.”
That secrecy—or quietness—remains her superpower. “You will never hear her brag or seek the spotlight,” noted one fellow attorney. Another observed, “She walks with style and grace, finding time to work tirelessly to promote” others.
To this day, you can always find Bennett, “doing what she does best—organizing, leading, and enriching the lives of young professionals.” Importantly, she does it by challenging “more experienced lawyers to become more involved, all while exuding the elegance and grace that is Patricia Bennett!”
As Bennett said, “Throughout my career, I have been intentional about my conduct and respect for others. I want to be the best that I can be and help others to become their best selves and exceed all the things that I have accomplished.”
In sum, hers is a life spent modeling the principles she now represents on a national stage—professionalism, civility, intellectual rigor, fairness, and a deep respect for the rule of law. As dean, she ensured others learned of “professionalism and knowledge of the law not as much from the words she used, but rather in the gracious way she demonstrated those things.”
Curtin fervently believes “lawyers help people find solutions to problems.” He professed that the recognition “came as such a shock.” And in preparing for his comments at the Third Circuit Judicial Conference in May, Curtin harkened back to guidance he once received from his priest about public speaking: “There are no souls saved after six minutes.”
Over a career spanning nearly a decade for each of those minutes, modeling the virtues and principles—professionalism, civility, fairness, a deep respect for the rule of law, and tireless giving—Thomas R. Curtin has set the highest bar, while providing unparalleled guidance and sage advice.