with who had the burden of proof [to determine
whether damage was caused by] wind, which is
covered under the homeowners policy, or water,
which is excluded. And we were able to have the
Mississippi Supreme Court clarify that law and
say it was the insurance company’s burden of
proof. It’s one of the things I’m really proudest of,
because I think it has the potential to help more
people for decades.”
An aerial view of the remains of Guice’s house after Katrina.
For her efforts, Guice was named the 2010
Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year by the
Mississippi Women Lawyers Association. She
says she received an even greater compliment
later that year, when her daughter, Sarah
Reese, a recent law school graduate, decided to
join her firm.
“When my daughter decided to go to law
school, obviously I was extremely pleased,”
Guice says, “but I didn’t think we would end
up practicing together because she’s fiercely
independent, just like I am. But it ended up
being the best thing for both of us. She makes
me remember my early days in the practice,
when everything was so new and exciting. That
has really pumped new blood into the practice
for me.”
Reese says of her mother, “I wanted to make
sure I made my own path and didn’t rely on
hers. But after deliberation, I realized it would
be absurd not to take the opportunity to practice
with such an incredible lawyer.”
These days, Guice and Reese are working as a
team, focused primarily on the aftermath of the
2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which continues
to take a heavy toll on the Gulf of Mexico’s
tourism and fishing industries. “Hurricane Katrina
litigation was the bulk of our practice for four or
five years, and then, I’ll be darned, here comes
the BP oil spill,” Guice says. “It’s like that ancient
Chinese curse: ‘May you live in interesting times.’”
But she relishes the chance to speak for the
little guy by going up against a multinational
corporation and its fleet of top legal minds. “I
guess my old boss was right,” she says. “A good
fight is exhilarating. And I would always rather
have someone good on the other side. Really!
Because that’s when our judicial system works
the best.”
worker who took his employer’s car for a joyride
across the Mississippi state line. Cody lost, but
he gained a valuable colleague in Odell Horton,
Memphis’ first African-American prosecutor.
Over the years, Cody developed a federal court
litigation practice, defending railroad companies,
barge operators and insurance corporations.
But, he says, “It really wasn’t until I became a
United States attorney, and then later an attorney
general, that I really felt like yes, the law was the
perfect fit for me.”
After serving on the Memphis City Council from
1975 to 1977, Cody was appointed by President
Jimmy Carter to a four-year term as U.S. attorney
for the Western District of Tennessee. On his
first day, while moving into his office, Cody’s
predecessor quipped, “This job has more power
than a good man ought to want or a bad man
ought to have.”
While on the job, he indicted Gov. Ray Blanton
for allegedly selling pardons to favored criminals
and orchestrated the nerve-wracking FBI rescue
of a young woman kidnapped near the Tennessee
River. “We didn’t know from one minute to the
next what was going to happen to her, how we
were going to find her, and how we were going
to get her freed,” says Cody. “I can remember
[thinking]: ‘If this goes wrong, how am I going to
live the rest of my life?’”
In 1984, he became state attorney general.
During his four-year term, Cody advised
legislators, governors and commissioners on
governmental ethics; dealt with complicated
issues such as prison overcrowding, higher
education and affirmative action; and argued
four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, his
proudest accomplishment to date. He won three
of them.
