J. Richard "Rick" Barry

Betty Ruth Fox is Counsel with Watkins & Eager focusing in the areas of environmental law and bankruptcy. From 1993 to 2002, Betty Ruth was a Senior Attorney with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and worked in regulation and enforcement in every MDEQ Program Area, coordinating with appropriate federal, state and local agencies and/or governing authorities. Beginning in 2002, Betty Ruth worked as a Trial Attorney with the Department of Justice/U. S. Trustee Program in ci...

Steve is a member of our Finance, Real Estate and Restructuring Group. He focuses his practice on Real Estate Development and Finance and Corporate Governance.

Alison O'Neal McMinn is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants. Alison O'Neal, who practices law in Jackson, Mississippi, has been recognized since 2019. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Alison O'Neal is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal p...

Thomas is a member of the Finance, Real Estate and Restructuring Group. His practice is focused on mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcy and restructuring.

James L. Banks is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants. James L., who practices law in Jackson, Mississippi, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which James L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Alyson serves as Practice Group Leader for our Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Group. Frequently called upon to assemble teams and manage both coordinated proceedings and individual plaintiff cases, she represents pharmaceutical and medical device companies in product liability litigation across the country. “Alyson is a phenomenal case manager and a strong litigator.” Chambers USA, which ranked Alyson for nationwide Product Liability & Mass Torts (2025). The Leg...

Ben focuses his practice on Corporate/LLC Law, Securities Law, Mergers and Acquisitions and Business Planning and Operations. He has served multiple tenures on the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Business Law Reform Committees for LLCs, Corporations and Securities Laws.

Christopher H. Meredith is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Corporate Law, Litigation - Bankruptcy, Commercial Litigation and Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law. Christopher H., who practices law in Ridgeland, Mississippi, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Christopher H. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic a...

Blythe practices within Butler Snow’s Labor and Employment group. An experienced litigator, Blythe has successfully represented management’s interests in state and federal litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and administrative agency proceedings on a wide variety of employment law matters. Blythe is also a U.S. Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and is an experienced counselor in the data protection arena.

Barber focuses his practice on commercial litigation issues including intellectual property, trade secrets, false advertising, breach of contract, and cybersecurity issues, as well as a variety of other types of commercial and environmental litigation. Barber has experience defending third party administrators in bad faith litigation. Barber’s practice includes matters with complex e-discovery issues, including handling issues relating to identification, preservation and collection of e...