Meta S. Copeland
Member
Meta Copeland, a native of Leland, Mississippi, earned her undergraduate degree from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, (magna cum laude) and her law degree from Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson (magna cum laude). She has litigation experience in the areas of insurance defense and coverage issues, personal injury, products liability, general civil litigation, and appellate practice. Prior to joining Wells Marble, Meta practiced for many years in private practice. She was also a faculty member at Mississippi College School of Law, where she focused on the teaching legal skills for over thirteen years and routinely interacted with judges, elected officials, and attorneys across Mississippi and the Southeast. She is a frequent presenter on best practices for trial and appellate litigation and professionalism topics for lawyers and legal professionals, and she has authored multiple chapters in the Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law.
Meta has served in a number of leadership positions with state and local bar associations throughout her legal career. She is a committee chair for both the Mississippi Bar Association and the Capital Area Bar Association and is a member of the Mississippi Bar’s Women in the Profession Committee. She is a past president of the Mississippi Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, past chair of the Mississippi Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, past board member of the Capital Area Bar Association, and was a Barrister in the American Inns of Court, Charles Clark Chapter. Meta was named a top ten finalist for the 2012 Mississippi Business Journal’s Leadership in Law and was a 2013 inductee into the National Order of Barristers advocacy honor society.
Areas of Practice- Insurance Defense and Coverage Issues
- Personal Injury Defense
- Products Liability Defense
- General Civil Litigation
- Appellate
- 100%
- Mississippi, 1998
- U.S. District Court – Northern District of Mississippi, 1998
- U.S. District Court – Southern District of Mississippi, 1998
- U.S. Federal Court, 1998
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1998
- Mississippi College School of Law
- Jackson, Mississippi, J.D. 1998, magna cum laude
- Moot Court Board- Chair
- 1996 Copeland, Cook, Taylor & Bush Moot Court Competition- Winner and Best Oralist
- Oglethorpe University
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- Atlanta, Georgia, B.A. in History, May 1995, magna cum laude
- Mid-South Super Lawyers- 2023- present
- National Order of Barristers Advocacy Society
- Attorney inductee, 2013
- Mississippi Business Journal’s Leaders in Law
- Top 10 Finalist, 2012
- Competence to Stand Trial, 17 Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law (Jeffrey Jackson, et al., eds.) (forthcoming, 2021)
- Death Penalty Litigation, 26 Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law (Jeffrey Jackson, et al., eds.) (forthcoming, 2021)
- Adoption, 3 Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law (Jeffrey Jackson, et al., eds., 2015, 2018-2020)
- Mind Your Manners: The Mississippi Bar Introduces New Deposition Guidelines“, September 2015 Capital Area Bar Association Newsletter, http://caba.ms/articles/features/mind-manners-msbar-new-deposition-guidelines.html
- Interview with Chief Judge L. Joseph Lee, The Mississippi Lawyer, Vol. LXI, No. 4, pg. 17 (Summer)
- Using Personality Profiles in Public Service Career Advising, Vol. 24, No. 6 NALP Bulletin, pg. 10 (June 2012)
- Mississippi Bar Association
- Appellate Practice Section, past-chair
- Chair, Price-Prather Luncheon, 2021
- Women in the Profession Committee, 2019-present
- 7th Circuit District Nominating Committee, 2018
- Election Committee, 2000
- Capital Area Bar Association
- Co-Chair, Social Committee, 2021
- Co-Chair, Evening Honoring the Judiciary, 2020
- Board Member, 2014 – 2016
- Barrister, American Inns of Court, Charles Clark Chapter, 2012-2014; 2019-present
- Mississippi Women Lawyers Association
- Speaker Chair, 2019
- Director, 1998 – 2000
- Federal Bar Association, Mississippi Chapter, past-president
- Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project
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- Legal Lines volunteer, 2007 – 2013
Community Involvement
- Girls on the Run of Central MS, Board of Directors, 2017 – 2019
- Junior League of Jackson, 2004 – present
- People’s Law School, Organizational Committee, 2000
- Downtown Jackson Exchange Club, 1998 – 2001
- Member, St. James Episcopal Church
Birth Information
- Leland, Mississippi