Attorney Profiles

THOMAS E. ROYALS

Tom, a veteran criminal defense lawyer with 35 years of experience in the courtroom, has handled hundreds of criminal and civil cases. Tom was listed in the first and all following editions of The Best Lawyers in America®, in the Criminal Defense section, published by Woodward White, which is considered by many as the authority on leading lawyers in the country. Tom is also listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, which is a publication of Martindale Hubbell, and in Who’s Who in America.

Tom was Chief Assistant District Attorney for Hinds County, the Seventh District of Mississippi, from 1971 through 1973, where he successfully prosecuted many criminal cases. In 1974, Tom reentered private practice and since that time has defended accused citizens in almost every kind of criminal case, both state and federal. Tom’s practice has been primarily in Mississippi, but has reached into other states. Tom has also represented injured plaintiffs in civil litigation.

Tom teaches trial practice at the Mississippi College School of Law as an adjunct professor. He has lectured at numerous seminars. He served as liaison between the Criminal Justice Act attorneys in the Southern District of Mississippi (attorneys appointed to represent indigent defendants), and the Defender Services Division of the United States Courts in Washington, D. C. for many years.

Tom has served as Chairman of a Committee to Recommend Retaining a Federal Magistrate Judge, has served on a search committee to recommend appointment of a United States Magistrate Judge, and has served as Chairman of a search committee to recommend appointment of a federal public defender for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Tom attended Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi and the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford, Mississippi, where he was on the Law Journal Staff. As a student, he worked part time for the Mississippi Rural Legal Services, which represented the poor in civil rights- oriented cases. He also continued to work for North Mississippi Rural Legal Services and set up an office in North Mississippi after he graduated. 

Honors: While in law school, Tom Royals received a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship and worked at the Manhattan Bail Reform Project in New York City during the summer of 1967. During this period of time, he argued bail reduction cases in the criminal courts in Manhattan and did other work involving the study of bail reform. He also, while in law school, received a grant or fellowship to study criminal defense law through a grant to the University of Pennsylvania, said course being taught at Haverford College.

Tom is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, the Hinds County Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Mississippi Trial Lawyers of America, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the Charles Clark American Inn of Court, Bencher. Tom was the founding President and is the current Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Attorneys for Constitutional Justice, the local NACDL affiliate.

THOMAS R. MAYFIELD

Upon graduation from the University of Mississippi School of Law, Tommy received a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship. He was a staff attorney for the North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, and in private practice in Columbus, Mississippi, from 1972 to 1974, with an emphasis on criminal trial and appellate practice.

Tommy was Assistant District Attorney for the Seventh Circuit Court District of the State of Mississippi, which included Hinds and Yazoo Counties, from 1974 until 2001. In Hinds County alone, he handled approximately 2,000 felony cases per year. He supervised and trained other prosecutors in the office and was lead counsel in literally hundreds of jury trials, including numerous capital cases and complex conspiracy prosecution. He also handled asset forfeiture cases on behalf of the State of Mississippi for over ten years.

Since leaving the Prosecutor’s office, Tommy has specialized in criminal defense and the defense of asset forfeiture cases.

He has been an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law, teaching in the areas of trial practice and criminal procedure.

Tommy has served as lecturer at numerous continuing legal education seminars and programs conducted for legal professionals and sponsored by numerous legal organizations and associations.