By BOBBY HARRISON

Daily Journal Jackson Bureau

JACKSON - It would be easy to get the impression from listening to some in favor of changing the state's civil justice system that all 174 members of the Mississippi Legislature are not only attorneys, but trial attorneys.

The dominance of trial lawyers on the all important House Judiciary A Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee make it difficult to pass much-needed legislation to change the civil justice system, people affiliated with Mississippians for Economic Justice and others in support of change say.

The truth is that attorneys do dominate both judiciary committees that legislation to change the civil just system would normally have to pass out of before it could be considered by the full House and Senate.

''Most of them (on the Judiciary committees) are plaintiffs attorneys,'' said Jerry McBride, president of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association. "In their spare time, when they don't have cases, they serve in the Legislature.

''Generally, you have young plaintiffs' attorneys in the Legislature. They are there for the publicity and it lets them earn some money while initiating their practice.''

The 25-member House Judiciary A Committee includes 13 attorneys. The 21-member Senate Judiciary Committee also includes 13 attorneys, plus. Sen. Gloria Williamson, D-Philadelphia, who is married to the former president of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association.

But a closer look at the attorneys on the committee reveal that far from a majority of them would be considered trial attorneys. They include attorneys who defend businesses, such as Sens. Charlie Ross, R-Brandon, and Neely Carlton, D-Greenville, who support changes in the civil justice system. Plus, they include other attorneys who have been some of the most vocal critics of trial attorneys, such as Sen. Tommy Robertson, R-Moss Point.

A vast majority of the attorneys on the committees and indeed in the Legislature are general practice attorneys.

''You got to look at what kind of lawyers are in the Legislature,'' said Sen. Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, who would be classified as a trial attorney. "There are real estate attorneys, criminal attorneys and even people with law degrees who do not practice serving in the Legislature.''

Most would agree the chairmen of the two pivotal Judiciary committee, Rep. Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, and Sen. Bennie Turner, D-West Point, are either trial attorneys or have been allies of trial attorneys through the years. But House Speaker Tim Ford, D-Baldwyn, maintains he did not appoint Watson because of his ties to trial attorneys.

''Tort reform was not even an issue when I appointed him,'' in 2000, Ford said. Ford said Watson, a Phi Beta Kappa and House veteran, is consideredone of the most competent members of the Legislature. Turner, one of the most respected members of the Legislature, was first appointed Judiciary chairman in 1996 by then-Lt.. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. He was one of the few members to maintain the same chairmanship under Amy Tuck when she became lieutenant governor in 2000.

While the Judiciary committees might be dominated by attorneys, the same cannot be said for the full Legislature. About 80 people in business or from business backgrounds serve in the 174-member Legislature. And if farmers are included as business people, as most would argue they should be, that number grows to over half the total membership. There are 37 attorneys in the Legislature.

But those numbers can be misleading, too. Some of the business people in the Legislature, such as Sen. Tommy Gollott, D-Biloxi, have voted against most of the efforts to change the civil justice system.

''Lawyers do not dominate the House or the Senate,'' said Langston, former head of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association. "They are in a minority. And of the lawyers in the House and Senate, most are not members of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers.''

He added, "The Mississippi Trial Lawyers do have political clout. But I think the Mississippi Economic Council has significant clout and so does the Mississippi Bankers Association and others.''