Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has appointed Chancery Judge Dawn Beam of Sumrall to become a state Supreme Court justice.

She will be the second woman on the current court, joining Justice Ann Lamar of Senatobia.

Beam will serve the final 11 months of an eight-year term started by Justice Randy Pierce of Leakesville, who is resigning Feb. 1 to become director of the Mississippi Judicial College. The college is part of the University of Mississippi law school in Oxford, and it handles training and continuing legal education for judges and staff for the state court system.

Beam, 51, is one of four judges in the 10th chancery district in Forrest, Lamar, Marion, Pearl River and Perry counties. The Supreme Court seat is for the southern third of the state.

She earned her law degree from the University of Mississippi. Before becoming a judge, she was the Lamar County prosecuting attorney from 2007 to 2010, worked in private practice and was child support counsel for the state Department of Human Services from 1989 to 1994.

"Her experience as a chancery judge, prosecutor, and a private practice attorney will be valuable in this role," Bryant said. "Her work earlier in her career at the Mississippi Department of Human Services dealing with federal compliance and protecting the children of Mississippi will be beneficial to the court, and I know she will serve the citizens of Mississippi well."

Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. praised Beam for her involvement in trying to oversee and improve child welfare operations in Marion County, where more than 160 children are in foster care. That's a much higher rate than statewide. Beam has said she stepped in after three children died in Marion County in about a year.

Waller also praised her work in getting court records for the district entered into the state's expanding online record system.

"Judge Beam not only has a distinguished record as a trial judge, but she has continually gone above and beyond the requirements of her office to improve the administration of justice," Waller said in a statement.

"I look forward to continuing that work on a larger scale," Beam said. "I am humbled and honored by Gov. Bryant's appointment."

Bryant appointed Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge James D. Maxwell II to the court Wednesday. He takes office Friday, replacing former Justice David Chandler of Ackerman. Bryant recently named Chandler executive director of the Mississippi Division of Family and Children's Services, to oversee the state's troubled foster care system. Chandler was elected in the northern Supreme Court district.

Maxwell has served on the appeals court since 2009, representing northeast Mississippi's District 1. On the Supreme Court, he will represent District 3, which covers northeast Mississippi and most of northwest Mississippi.

Terms started by Chandler and Pierce expire in January 2017. Both seats are up for election in November 2016. Mississippi judicial candidates run without party labels.