Blake Teller of Vicksburg was sworn in as the 117th President of The Mississippi Bar on July 15, 2022, during the organization’s Annual Business Session.
The oath was administered by Chief Justice Michael K. Randolph of the Mississippi Supreme Court. There are nearly 9,000 active members of the Mississippi Bar who are licenced to practise law in Mississippi.
Teller was called to The Mississippi Bar in 1991 and began practising law at Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes in Jackson. In 1994, he returned to Vicksburg to practise law alongside his father, Landy Teller, and grandpa, Landman Teller, at what is now Teller, Hopson & Schrader LLP.
Teller graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1988 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in banking and finance. Teller received a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Vanderbilt University in 1991. Teller was a Forrest C. Mobley business scholar and a Mississippi Young Banker scholar at the University of Mississippi. He was also elected president of the University of Mississippi Business School. Teller was a finalist in the Vanderbilt Appellate Moot Court competition.
Teller is involved in local, state, and national bar groups. He served as President of the Young Lawyers Division of The Mississippi Bar from 1998 to 1999 and as a member of The Mississippi Bar’s Board of Commissioners from 1997 to 2000 and again from 2009 to 2012. Teller served as Chair of the Bar’s Real Property Section in 2007-2008, as President of the Fellows of the Young Lawyers in 2010-2011, as a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation in 2015, as Chair of the Summer School CLE Committee in 2016 and 2017, and as Chair of the Bench-Bar Relations Committee in 2018-2019.
Teller has served as President, Secretary/Treasurer, Director-At-Large of The Mississippi Bar Young Lawyers Division, and Delegate to the American Bar Association from the Young Lawyers Division of the Warren County Bar Association. From 1995 to 1996, Teller taught mock trials at Vicksburg High School.
In his 29 years of legal practise, Teller has represented a wide range of clients, including people, businesses, banks, and government agencies. In December of 2014, he was named counsel for the Warren County Board of Supervisors, a post he now holds. Teller serves on the Advisory Board of Vicksburg’s Guaranty Bank & Trust Company. He has also served on the Board of Ethics for the Vicksburg Medical Center.
Teller is quite involved in his neighbourhood. He has served on the Board of Directors of the United Way of West Central Mississippi as President in 2008 and Campaign Chair in 2005; the Rotary Club as President in 2011-2012; the YMCA Board of Directors as President-Elect from 2018-2020; the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce as President in 2019; the Good Shepherd Community Center Board; on the Vicksburg Catholic School Board as President in 2008; the First Presbyterian Church Kindergarten Board; and on the Boards fo the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce and the Teller provides free legal services to these groups and others in the community on a regular basis. Morgan Elizabeth, Barrett Mills, and Brandon Blake are his three children with his Jackson-based wife, Stacey Mills.
