Home
Caret Right
News & Insights
Caret Right

Butler Snow Welcomes ...

Butler Snow Welcomes Deborah Challener to Ridgeland, Mississippi Office

December 9, 2025 | by Butler Snow

Butler Snow LLP is pleased to announce that attorney Deborah J. Challener has joined the firm’s Ridgeland, Mississippi, office, as a member of the Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Litigation practice group. Challener brings more than two decades of experience in legal education, appellate practice, and complex litigation, with a distinguished career as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Owen Cooper Professor of Law at Mississippi College School of Law.

“Deborah’s depth of experience, combined with her national leadership in appellate practice, will be a tremendous asset to our clients and our team,” said Christopher R. Maddux, chair of Butler Snow.

Deborah J. Challener

Challener is a member of Butler Snow’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Litigation group. She has served as a leading administrative and faculty member at MC Law, taught at the University of Maine and Washburn University, and worked for Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. Challener clerked for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and the U.S Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  She is a recognized expert in civil procedure, appellate advocacy, and complex litigation. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the ABA Appellate Practice Committee and is a recipient of the “Outstanding Woman Lawyer Award” from the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association.

Challener earned her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College, her master’s in public policy from Vanderbilt University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law. She is admitted to practice in Mississippi and California.