Before the Honorable Neal Biggers Jr. passed away in October 2023 at age 88, he included a $50,000 gift in his estate plans to benefit the University of Mississippi School of Law and future generations of constitutional law students.
His gift provides financial support to the Judge Neal B. Biggers, Jr. Constitutional Law Award, presented annually to a UM law student with outstanding ability and interest in constitutional law. This award was established to honor Biggers’ decades of service as a federal judge.
For Biggers to have designated support for this award reflects his appreciation of students who share his passion for constitutional law, said Robin Hendrickson, Biggers’ life partner in Oxford, Mississippi.
“Judge Biggers sat on the federal bench in the Northern District of Mississippi for almost half his life,” Hendrickson said. “He took great pleasure in mentoring a myriad of law clerks and interns, all but a handful from the Ole Miss Law School where he graduated.
“In his chambers and courtroom, those young lawyers and law students saw for themselves constitutional law in action and how the court served as the guardian and defender of the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.”
UM Law Dean Frederick G. Slabach expressed appreciation for Biggers’ estate gift.
“We are enormously grateful for the support and generosity Judge Biggers has expressed for the law school and our students with his gift to the Judge Neal B. Biggers Jr. Constitutional Law Award,” the dean said.
“Judge Biggers’ prominent career as a jurist on the federal bench and his interest in constitutional law serve as an inspiration to our students. As a result of his financial support of the Constitutional Law Award named in his honor, students receiving this award have additional resources to succeed academically and professionally.”
Born in Corinth, Mississippi, Biggers earned an undergraduate degree from Millsaps College and his law degree from UM. In law school, he served as associate editor of the Mississippi Law Journal and president of the judicial committee. He graduated cum laude with a Juris Doctor degree and returned to Corinth to start his solo law practice.
For 20 years, the late judge served his county and state in various legal positions. He was elected as the prosecuting attorney for Alcorn County and then district attorney for the First Judicial District. He was later elected as circuit court judge for that district.
In 1984, he was nominated for the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan. After the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination, he provided leadership for nearly 40 years as a federal district judge in Mississippi’s Northern District.
During this time, Biggers presided over several landmark legal cases, including the Ayers v. Fordice higher education desegregation case and the Herdahl v. Pontotoc County School District case that focused on the constitutionality of school prayer.
He served as chief judge of the court from 1998-2000. Biggers was a member of various councils and committees of the Fifth Circuit, including the judicial council, which is the administrative arm governing federal courts in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. He also was a member of the American Judicature Society and The American Inns of Court. In 2000, he took senior status, serving as a senior district judge until his death.
To make a gift to the Judge Neal B. Biggers Jr. Constitutional Law Award, send a check with the fund’s name written in the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655, or online here.
To learn how to support the UM School of Law, contact Greg Carter, director of development, at gjcarter@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2307.
For information on including the university in estate plans, contact Marc Littlecott, advancement director for estate and planning giving, at marcplan@olemiss.edu or 662-915-6625; or online here.
By Jonathan Scott/UM Development