ABOUT
IAN BAKER

For the past 18 years I have spent my days in a courtroom protecting victims of crime, supporting our police, holding criminals accountable, and ensuring justice for the citizens of South Mississippi.  My career has been marked by a commitment to public service.  Following my graduation from Mississippi College School of Law in 2006, I worked as a Judicial Clerk for Presiding Judge Bill Myers at the Mississippi Court of Appeals from 2006 to 2007.  As the only candidate with firsthand experience working at the Court of Appeals, including having contributed to more than forty published appellate opinions, I am prepared to hit the ground running from day one. 

 

Following my time at the Court of Appeals, I spent more than six years in private practice, and was an owner and founding partner of Baker & Brewer, PLLC in Biloxi.  During my years in private practice, I tried numerous civil cases in both state and federal courts in Mississippi.  I also served as the attorney for the Biloxi Civil Service Commission, which is the governing body tasked with making decisions regarding the hiring, training, and termination of police, fireman, and other city employees. 

 

In 2013, current Court of Appeals Judge and former District Attorney for Harrison, Hancock, and Stone Counties, Joel Smith, convinced me to leave private practice and join him in the District Attorney’s Office.  Over the past eleven years in the DA’s Office, I have prosecuted thousands of felony criminal cases, to include more than 50 felony jury trials.  No undertaking in the practice of law tests your knowledge, skill, ability, and grit more than participating as a litigant in a jury trial. I am far and away the candidate in this race with the most jury trial experience as a practitioner.    I currently serve the DA’s Office as the Division Chief for Gulfport, Division 2, where I am responsible for prosecuting major violent crimes, gang crimes, sex crimes, and drug trafficking crimes. 

 

I am also a Certified Law Enforcement Instructor and routinely teach at the Gulf Coast Law Enforcement Training Academy.  I am a nationally certified Gang Prosecutor, having been certified by the National Gang Crime Research Center in 2017.  As a prosecutor for more than a decade, I have demonstrated my commitment to combatting crime and ensuring public safety while upholding the Constitution and the laws of the State of Mississippi, and will continue to do so as your next Court of Appeals Judge.