Hiawatha Northington II is Managing Partner of the Jackson office of GRSM and is a member of the Commercial Litigation and Professional Liability practice groups. His practice encompasses a wide range of complex litigation matters, including professional liability and insurance coverage in state and federal courts.
After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, Hiawatha completed a two-year clerkship for the Hon. Charles R. McRae of the Supreme Court of Mississippi. Since entering private practice, Hiawatha has spent the last twenty-five years successfully representing small towns and large municipalities, closely-held corporations and large multinational companies, and individuals and insurance companies in a variety of litigated matters. His experience includes complex commercial disputes and representation of defendants in products liability, breach of warranty, breach of fiduciary duty, and professional liability claims; premises liability litigation; fair housing proceedings; class actions; consumer fraud cases; labor and employment matters; and white-collar criminal and governmental investigations. He has successfully first-chaired dozens of bench and jury trials across Mississippi and Louisiana in both federal and state courts, and he has represented numerous clients in administrative proceedings before federal, state, and local boards and agencies and in arbitration. His experience has also allowed him to successfully resolve hundreds of claims prior to trial, through motion practice and mediation.
Hiawatha also has extensive experience in legal research and writing, handling appeals in both state and federal court, and serving as an Adjunct Professor of legal writing and appellate advocacy at the Mississippi College School of Law for ten years.
Admissions
- Mississippi
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi
- Supreme Court of Mississippi
- Supreme Court of Texas
Memberships
- State Bar of Mississippi
- State Bar of Texas
- American Bar Association
- Magnolia Bar Association
Community Involvement
- Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc, Canton-Madison (MS) Alumni Chapter
- Founder
- Vice-Polemarch, 2002-2004
- Polemarch, 2004-2006
- Guide Right Chair, 2018-present
- Advisor, Central Mississippi Kappa League, 2018-present
- Jackson State University National Alumni Association, Madison County Alumni Chapter
- Past Board Member, Crossroads Film Society
- Past Board Member, The Oaks House Museum