Meridian attorney Rick Barry has assumed the position of president of The Mississippi Bar, which is composed of more than 11,000 attorneys who are licensed to practice law in the state. Barry becomes the 112th President of the association.

Barry was raised in Quitman and received his Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Mississippi in 1976 and his Juris Doctorate from University of Mississippi School of Law in 1979. While in law school, he served as president and vice president of the law school student body and was a member of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.

After graduating from law school, Barry joined the Meridian law firm of Bourdeaux and Jones, LLP, the predecessor to his current firm, Barry, Palmer, Thaggard, May & Bailey, LLP, where he has practiced law for 38 years.

Active in the legal profession, Barry has served the Lauderdale County Bar Association as its President and Secretary/Treasurer. Rick was honored to serve as President of the Young Lawyers Division of The Mississippi Bar in 1986-87 and as President of the Fellows of the Young Lawyers of The Mississippi Bar from 2002-03. Rick has served as chair of the Health Law Section of The Mississippi Bar and served on the Summer School for Lawyers Committee. He is a former member of the Board of Bar Commissioners and Mississippi Bar Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He was inducted as a Bar Foundation Fellow in 1990 and is a member of the American Bar Association and is a member of the ABA Litigation Section where he served on the Minority Trial Lawyer Committee.

Barry is also a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and has been the Board Attorney for the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors for more than 20 years. Barry is a member of the Board of Directors of Rush Health Systems, Inc., serving as its General Counsel and is also General Counsel for the Meridian Housing Authority and for Greater Meridian Health Clinic, Inc.

Barry was inducted as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and is a member of the Lamar Order. He has also served on the Mississippi State Board of Mental Health for 10 years, on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Volunteers Lawyers Project, and was appointed to the Governor’s Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee for Mississippi in 2013.

An Eagle Scout, Barry is a supporter of the Choctaw Area Council of the Boys Scouts of America and supports numerous civic and community organizations, including the Meridian Little Theater, Meridian Community College Foundation, Good News Jail and Prison Ministry, the Red Cross, and the United Way.

Barry, a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, has been married to Meridian native and former Meridian Mayor Cheri Merrit Barry for 40 years. They have three children, Jennifer and her husband David Fowler of Hendersonville, Tenn.; Jay Barry of Columbia, Tenn.; and Merritt Barry and his wife Summer of Meridian. Rick and Cheri Barry are the proud grandparents of three grandsons, George Bass, Avery, and John Hayes.