Deborah J. Challener

Publications:

• “Procedural Confusion During Trial Leads to Remand,” interviewed in American Bar Association Litigation News, December 2024 (subscription required).
• “Practice Pointer: Unrefrigerated Dead Fish and Other Tips for Getting the Most You Can Out of the Standard of Review,” earlier version published by the American Bar Association, Appellate Practice Pointers, November 2024.
• “Procedural Lessons for Litigators from Fifth Circuit Decision in Palmquist,” published in Texas Lawyer, an ALM/Law.com publication, June 2024.
• “Venue,” Mississippi Civil Procedure, Jeffrey Jackson, Donald Campbell, and Justin Matheny, eds. (Thomson Reuters) (updated annually).
• “Teaching and Learning Personal Jurisdiction After the Stealth Revolution,” 70 Fla. L. Rev. F. 96 (2018).
• “Mixed Cases of Law and Equity in Mississippi Courts,” 35 Miss. C. L. Rev. 386, with Michael H. Hoffheimer (2017).

Seminars & Presentations

• A Peek Into the Playbook of Discovery, Mississippi Bar Summer School, Panelist (July 8, 2026).
• Federal Court Update, Mississippi Bar Appellate Practice CLE, Panelist (May 16, 2025).
• Administrative Boot Camp for New and Aspiring Deans and Associate Deans, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, New York City, NY (2022, 2023).
• Res Judicata in Mississippi, State Appellate Judges Conference, Oxford, MS (2018).
• Mixed Jurisdiction in Mississippi Courts, State Trial and Appellate Judges Conference, Biloxi, MS (2017).

• American Bar Association — Co-Chair, Appellate Practice Committee
• Federal Bar Association
• Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit — Programming Committee
• Mississippi Bar Association — Appellate Practice Section, Executive Committee Member-at-Large; Women in the Profession Section, Executive Committee Member-at-Large
• Capital Area Bar Association

• Assisted with obtaining reversal of a $350,000.00 damage award in a default judgment case.
• Assisted with briefing a complex choice-of-law dispute and obtaining application of law favorable to client.
• Won affirmance of administrative hearing results in trial courts on behalf of school districts.
• Negotiated favorable settlement on behalf of school district and obtained favorable result in mediation for business client.
• Assisted with briefing on behalf of school district seeking unitary status in desegregation case, including briefing response to motion to exclude school district’s expert witness.
• Briefed motion to compel arbitration in complex construction dispute.
• Won motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

• Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award, Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, 2022
• Professor of the Year, American Association of Law Schools
  • First Year Professor of the Year, 2022-23 (Section Award)
  • Professor of the Year, 2020-21
  • First Year Professor of the Year, 2020-21 (Section Award)
  • Professor of the Year, 2019-20
  • First Year Professor of the Year, 2019-20 (Section Award)