Warrior Magazine December 2019

ing primarily regulatory law and general litigation for three years. From there he moved to Capitol Hill where he was Counsel to the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, focusing on constitutional law. He later served as Legislative Director and Counsel to Con gressman Chip Pickering from Mississippi. “My wife and I both knew we eventually wanted to come back

parents, Mike and Lucy Hurst, had attended when he was a baby. It was not unheard of in those days for a young couple’s child to make an appearance in class. “When I attended East Central,

“ ” I don’t get paid to arrest or convict people, I get paid to always do the right thing. In my opinion, there can be no more satisfying or rewarding career than doing what you love and doing it for all the right reasons.

some of my professors whom had taught my parents years be fore would instruct my peers in the classroom that this was my second time taking their class, and proceed to tell the story of my college days as a baby being passed around in their class.” Hurst began East Central as a chemical engineering major, but eventually changed his major to focus more on the law. “Looking back, I think those early courses relating to en gineering helped better prepare me to think analytically, and coupled with courses in the humanities, I feel like I received as good an education at East Central as I could have received anywhere. For me, East Central had simply the best instruc tors throughout my college experience, with their years of wisdom and diverse life experiences, and that came through in their teaching and inspired us as student to strive even harder to do even more.” When asked who his favorites were, Hurst said there were so many that he hesitated to name names. “Mr. (Ovid) Vickers was probably one of the most influ ential professors I ever had, as I had never heard someone speak so eloquently and passionately about literature and the arts, and frankly pull me aside after class and give me some tough, unvarnished life advice. Dr. Shelby Harris and Mrs. Ann Burkes were also very influential in my life as they

home to Mississippi to raise our kids, and I felt like working for a Mississippi Congressman was a way for me to serve my home state while still living in the D.C. area. In 2006, I ac cepted a job as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Jackson, where for the next nine years I prosecuted federal crimes ranging from immigration to bank fraud to public corruption.” After losing a bid for the Mississippi Attorney General’s seat in 2015, Hurst created a non-profit law firm in 2016 called the Mississippi Justice Institute, which represents Mississippians on a pro bono basis primarily when their con stitutional rights have been violated. “I truly felt the Lord calling me to leave my job as an As sistant U.S. Attorney in 2015 to run for Mississippi Attorney General, even though many thought it was crazy. Looking back, I can now see that had I not run for that position, I don’t know if I would have ever been on the radar of our U.S. Senators, the Governor, or the President to be nominated as the U.S. Attorney.” Beginning his college career at East Central was an easy decision for Hurst in many ways. First, he was offered a scholarship to play basketball. But he said it was the small size and nearness to home that was also appealing to him. He also admits he had a lot of history with ECCC, as both his

–HURST continued on page 20

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