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‘The truth has a ring to it.’ Attorney Lucius B. Dabney Jr. celebrates the oldest law firm in Mississippi

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Attorney Lucius B. Dabney Jr. Photo courtesy Mr. Dabney.

From physical characteristics to career choices, there are some things that can connect family members across generations.

For attorney Lucius B. Dabney Jr. that thing is a love for the law. Because of that love, he is proud to say that his is the longest continuously running law practice in the Magnolia State.

Dabney feels his career path was chosen before he was born. He comes from five generations of lawyers and electrical engineers.

“This law firm is the oldest in Mississippi because Lee Dabney, my ancestor, came all the way from Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Raymond, Mississippi, in 1835,” he said. “His son moved the firm to Vicksburg who passed it down to my grandfather Monsieur Dabney. Monsieur took in my father, Grant Dabney, and Fred Dabney, his brother. And my father took me in.”

Before joining, Dabney and Dabney, the family business, the young Lucius Dabney was selected to serve his country.

“I was at the Virginia Military Institute,” he said. “My father sent me up there, and gave me several very terse instructions. He told me, ‘Son, you’re going to go to Virginia, take up electrical engineering and pass all of your subjects.’ You see, he believed that everyone should have experience in two major fields. 

“He sent me up there to take up electrical engineering, I passed all of my classes, until they dropped the draft [age] from 21 to 18, and took me into the army, where I learned to repair typewriters and associated equipment.”

After 70 years in practice, Dabney recalls his experiences as amiable. 

“I’ve always found the lawyers in Vicksburg to be very compatible,” he said. ” I could talk with them on a friendly basis. We could see about solving our problems and our clients problems without jumping up and down and screaming. There was never any of that.

“Everyone I ever dealt with was a very perfect lady or gentleman. I never had any problems with anyone. They didn’t make problems, and I didn’t make problems. We did the best we could to get things settled, and sometimes we have to have a trial, but I was very pleased with how things turned out most of the times.

“I tried to present the facts as they were. So many people try to present the facts as they want them to be, but the truth has a ring to it.”

There is one lesson Dabney credits with helping him through life and his long law practice.

“I’ve got one bit of advice to mama’s with boys,” he said. “It’s what my mama did to me and for me. The earliest memories I have of being disciplined is that she told me, ‘You will be nice to women.’ She let me know that if she was dead and gone, and [I] break that rule, ‘I will pop you from out of eternity.’

“It hasn’t hurt me, yet, to be kind to women, and it brings me a bit of joy to hold the door open for someone or help someone with a package. It doesn’t hurt for a man to be pleasant to a woman.”

When asked how it felt to be a part of the longest running law firm in Mississippi, Dabney’s response was simple.

“I feel real good about it,” he said. “I’ll tell you that. I feel real, real good about just trying to keep things going on the same plane that they have for years. I feel real, real, real good about it.”

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