Mike Moore

Background

He was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Education

University of Mississippi. University of Mississippi School of Law.

Career

In 1994, he filed the first lawsuit against thirteen tobacco companies, claiming that they should reimburse the State for the costs of treating those with smoking-related illnesses. Attorneys General from several other states joined the suit, with Moore as the lead negotiator. The settlement was worth $246 billion to the states, including $4.1 billion for Mississippi.

The Michael Mann-directed film The Insider portrays some of the events leading up to this settlement.

Moore received his Juris Doctor in 1979 from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He served as the District Attorney for Pascagoula.

In 1997 he was awarded "Lawyer of the Year" by the National Law Journal. In 1989, during his first term as Attorney General, Moore ran in a special election for the United States. House of Representatives in the fifth congressional district (today the fourth) following the death of Representative Larkin I. Smith.

Despite being the favorite among Democrats, Moore came in third in the initial round of balloting, behind Democratic state Senator Gene Taylor and Republican Tom Anderson.

Taylor went on to defeat Anderson in the runoff. Moore heads Mike Moore Law Firm Limited Liability Company in Jackson, Mississippi. He serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi.

Moore sits on the Board of Directors for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and on the Advisory Board of LegalShield.

Achievements

• Initially created to receive funding from a large tobacco settlement won on behalf of Mississippi victims, the court order providing this funding was later vacated after a suit was filed by then-Governor Haley Barbour.