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went into labor. He recounted that as they were on the way to a hospital, the labor pains subsided and his wife said it would be all right if they stopped at the North Gulfport voting precinct to check on the vote count. He saw Rep. Frances Fredericks at the precinct. %u201cShe got a purse and she hit me and she pushed me out of the precinct...and she said, %u2018Get this woman to a hospital right now.%u2019%u201d Presiding Justice King recalled, %u201cOn January 3, 1995, the 10 of us stood in the old Supreme Court Chamber at the Capitol and took the oath of office in a most impressive ceremony....After that impressive ceremony, we then marched over to the offices on State Street, which were, to put it charitably, not quite as impressive. As I recall each of us basically had a desk, a desk chair, probably a legal pad and a pen. And that was it.%u201d The building was rented, as the old Gartin Justice Building that housed the Supreme Court had no space for a new court. There was no place to hold oral arguments before the Court of Appeals during the first few months. The building had to be remodeled to create a courtroom. The building leaked, there was mildew and there were plumbing problems. The new judges had to figure out operating procedures, get to know each other and develop a working relationship. Judge Southwick said, %u201cWe had to create those relationships to understand what it meant to disagree in an agreeable fashion, to write opinions.%u201dOther judges agreed that the Court of Appeals%u2019 members were collegial even when they disagreed. %u201cWe never got personal about disagreement, said former Judge Payne. Former Judge Jim M. Greenlee of Oxford, who retired on June 30, 2024, said, %u201cThere is nothing wrong with disagreeing. There is something wrong with disagreeing disagreeably. And this court has the ability to take all of these issues ...and to sit down and decide.%u201dJudge Southwick said the mission from the inception was to speed up the process of deciding cases. %u201c We were given deadlines.... The idea was to decide every case within 270 days as mandated by the Legislature, and we met those deadlines.%u201d A month after the judges took the oath, the Court of Appeals handed down its first batch of cases, 26 opinions. The Court of Appeals issued 525 decisions on the merits in 1995.Former Judge Diaz said, %u201cWe created this from nothing, and it was such an amazing experience to be a part of that.%u201d %u201cThey put the life into the legislation,%u201d Chief Judge Barnes said. %u201cThey gave it their brains, their hands.%u201dDuring the past 30 years, the court has issued more than 15,000 decisions on the merits. %u201cWe think that has made a good dent in the caseload,%u201d Chief Judge Barnes said.The Court of Appeals sped up the time it takes to finalize a decision. In 2024, the Court of Appeals%u2019 average time from the filing of the final appeal brief to issuance of a decision was 210 days %u2013 60 days sooner than required. %u201cIt%u2019s a working court and I%u2019m very proud to have been a part of it during its first decade,%u201d said Justice David Ishee of Gulfport, who served on the Court of Appeals before moving to the Supreme Court. Four Justices are former members of the Court of Appeals.Justice Ishee recalled collegiality and friendships. %u201cAbout 10 months after I came on the Court, I swam out of my living room during Hurricane Katrina,%u201d he said. %u201cRunning back and forth trying to attend to a family and build a house and being a brand new judge was not an easy period.%u201d Colleagues on the Court stepped up to help %u201clike family.%u201dThe panel was well-attended and the Court of Appeals courtroom was packed with current and former justices, judges, members of the federal bench, Legislators, and lawyers and friends from all over the State. The modern live-streaming capabilities at the Gartin Justice Building allowed the panel discussion to be taped, and it can be viewed on the Court%u2019s website.11 The video of the panel discussion can also be accessed directly at https://vimeo.com/event/480179616 SPRING 2025