Attorney Charles J. Swayze Jr. ('69) of Greenwood is the new chairman of the Lamar Order of The University of Mississippi Alumni Association. Roy C. Williams ('66) of Pascagoula is serving as vice chairman.

Swayze received his bachelor's and juris doctor degrees at Ole Miss in 1966 and 1969, respectively, followed by his master of laws at George Washington University in 1973. He served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps from 1969-73, and since has practiced law in Greenwood as a partner in the firm Whittington, Brock, Swayze and Dale.

Elected Leflore County Attorney in 1976, Swayze has been re-elected to every term since. A member of the Mississippi Bar Association, he chairs the Alternative Resolution Committee, and he is a member of the Resolution of Fee Dispute Committee, the Board of Bar Admissions, and the Board of Bar Commissioners. He serves on the Mississippi Supreme Court's annexed Mediation Committee.

The attorney is a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has previously served as president of the Leflore County Bar Association, and on the Board of Governors of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers' Association and the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Prosecutors' Association.

Swayze has spoken at numerous meetings and seminars on alternative dispute resolution. He has taught Mississippi ABOTA (American Board of Trial Advocates) Chapter-sponsored trial advocacy at The University of Mississippi School of Law, and he has taught business law at Mississippi Valley State University.

Williams received his law degree at Ole Miss in 1966, after completing his bachelor's degree on the Oxford campus. His honors included membership in Omicron Delta Kappa leadership fraternity and Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. He served on the staff of the Mississippi Law Journal, including the post of comment editor. Following his early experience as a public defender for the 19th Judicial District, he entered the practice of law, and presently maintains a general practice in Pascagoula, with emphasis on hospital law, medical malpractice, insurance bad faith defense, legal malpractice and products liability.

In the area of products liability, Williams was retained by Johns-Manville in the mid-70s to defend asbestos cases, and he has spent 20 years in mass tort litigation. He has served as liaison counsel or co-liaison counsel for the defense group since the beginning of the litigation and has maintained a depository of all important documents accumulated over the course of the defense effort.

The attorney is admitted to practice law in all courts in Mississippi, as well as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the Jackson County, the Mississippi, and American Bar Associations, having served as a commissioner of Continuing Legal Education, and as a member of the Bar Admissions Committee's Character and Fitness Subcommittee of the Mississippi Bar.

Listed in Martindale-Hubbell as an A-rated lawyer, Williams has been named an advocate to the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a member of the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys, the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association (president, 1985-86) and Defense Research Institute (state chair, 1982-85).