Wiggs

Rebecca practices within Butler Snow’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Litigation group. Rebecca is an experienced trial attorney who now focuses her practice on pharmaceutical product liability litigation.  She has tried over 40 cases to jury verdicts in state and federal courts in Mississippi.  She has served on teams successfully defending the manufacturers of prescription and over-the-counter products from discovery through the appellate process.  As a result of her work deposing sensitive witnesses, she is a frequent trainer for deposition practice and jury decision-making.

Drug & Device Litigation

Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare

Rebecca has worked in every phase of litigation from document retention and review, preparation of company witnesses and sales representatives, expert witness development, motion practice, plaintiff and treating physician depositions, strategic planning, mock trials, and settlement negotiations, trial team and appellate advocacy. In addition to pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, her courtroom experience also includes consumer finance litigation, trust management disputes, protection of permits for new manufacturing and wastewater treatment plants, and medical malpractice claims.

Rebecca draws upon her 40-plus jury verdicts to inform both clients and seminar audiences on trial strategy and jury decision-making.  Her work in the courtroom and as an appellate advocate resulted in her appointment to two Merit Selection Panels for U.S. Magistrate positions.  Her questioning style and listening skills have led to assignments as an internal investigator, executive search committee member, performance evaluator and now as a mediator trained by the American Arbitration Association.

Rebecca previously served as Chair of the Litigation Section of The Mississippi Bar and served two terms as Commissioner of The Mississippi Bar. She is a Bencher in the Charles Clark Inn of Court, a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation.

She was recognized by The Mississippi Bar with the 2021 Susie Blue Buchanan Award, which honors women who have achieved professional excellence and advanced opportunities for women, and she received the 2016 Woman Lawyer of the Year award from the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association.  She was named one of Mississippi’s Leading Businesswomen by the Mississippi Business Journal, and Portico Jackson Magazine recognized her as a Legacy Lawyer.  She is listed by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America®, Super Lawyers®, and Benchmark Litigation (Top 250 Women in Litigation). She is AV® – Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®.

Rebecca is a frequent author and speaker. She presented “Insights from Women Lawyer Trailblazers” at the Mississippi State Bar’s 2019 Evelyn Gandy Seminar. She is the author of the professionalism orientation materials used by both Mississippi law schools.

She obtained her J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law and undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University in Politics. She is admitted to practice in Mississippi and North Carolina.

• Won summary judgment and defended on appeal Mississippi’s only wrongful adoption case.
• Successfully defended a regional bank in its role as trustee for a family trust where family members disagreed about expenditures.
• Got a punitive damages award reversed and rendered where trial counsel was unaware of an altered document submitted to the jury
• Defense verdict for a major oil company in a wrongful death suit arising out of a premises liability claim at a convenience store.
• Defense verdict for a plastic surgeon in a wrongful death suit.
• Defended two different dentists successfully in malpractice claims involving IV sedation.
• Defended appeal of permit grant to neighboring county for a new wastewater treatment plant.

• Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business
  • Litigation: General Commercial (Mississippi), 2021-2024
• Mississippi Business Journal, 50 Leading Business Women, 2015
• Martindale-Hubbell®
  • AV®– Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated
• Benchmark Litigation
  • Top 250 Women in Litigation, 2016-2020
  • Local Litigation Star, 2017, 2021
• Mississippi Bar
  • Susie Blue Buchanan Award, 2021
  • Lawyer Citizenship Award, 2012
• Jackson Legal Secretaries Association
  • Boss of the Year, 1989-1990
• Super Lawyers®
  • Mid-South Super Lawyers, Personal Injury Products: Defense, 2014-2024
  • Top 50: Mississippi Super Lawyers, 2023
  • Top 50: Women Mid-South Super Lawyers, 2017, 2023
• PORTICO Legacy Lawyers, Class of 2016
• Best Lawyers in America®
  • Appellate Practice, 2019-2025
  • Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law, 2021-2025
  • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, 2021-2025
  • Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2014-2025
• Who's Who Legal, Product Liability Defence, 2019-2022
• Mississippi Women Lawyers Association
  • Woman Lawyer of the Year Award, 2016
• Leadership Mississippi
  • Class of 1995
• Mississippi Bar Foundation
  • Fellow
• American Bar Foundation
  • Life Fellow

• Mississippi, 1985
• North Carolina, 2013
• U.S. Court of Appeals
• 5th Circuit
• 11th Circuit

• University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1985
• Wake Forest University, Politics, 1979

• Clerkship, Honorable Paul H. Roney, United States Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit

• American Bar Association
  • Litigation Section
• Charles Clark American Inn of Court
  • Bencher
• Mississippi Bar
  • Commissioner, 2014-2017
  • Litigation Section Chair, 2014-2015
• Mississippi Women Lawyers Association
• Capital Area Bar Association

• Panelist, "The West Hour – The Importance of Mentorship and Overcoming Its Challenges," 31st Annual Evelyn Gandy Lecture Series, January 20, 2024.
• Speaker, “Insights from Women Lawyer Trailblazers,” 2019 Evelyn Gandy Seminar, Mississippi State Bar.
• Speaker, “Health Care Law Update, Mississippi State Bar, May 2017.
• Speaker, “Anatomy of a Malpractice Trial,” American Bar Association Webinar, August 2016.
• Speaker, “Habitat Women Build,” WLEZ Radio, April 1, 2015; WLBT TV, April 7, 2015.
• Presenter, “Moving Forward: Using the Political Process," with J. Nash, A. Taggart, B. Jones and R. Staples, MS Nurses Association Statewide Nursing Summit, January 27, 2015.
• Presenter, "Mediation: For the Defense," Mississippi State Bar, 2015 Evelyn Gandy Seminar.
• Speaker, “Deposition Academy,” 2015, 2017 & 2018, Mississippi State Bar.
• Presenter, “In Legal Terms: Jury Service," Mississippi Public Broadcasting, December 9, 2014.
• Presenter, “Constitution Day,” Forest Hill High School A.P. Government Class, 2014-2016.
• Presenter, "Lawyer as a Community Leader," Mississippi Bar Young Lawyers Leadership Program, 2013-2015.
• Presenter, “How MS Government Really Works," with Jere Nash and Andy Taggart, MEC Leadership MS, 2012-2016.
• Speaker, "How Jurors Make Decisions," Focus on The Jury, MSB Litigation Section, June 2011.
• Speaker, “Deposition Bootcamp,” Pfizer & Kaye Scholer, NYC, January 2011.
• Speaker, "Extraordinary In-House/Outside Counsel Relationships," Bar of the City of New York, September 2010.
• Author, “Professionalism Orientation Materials,” Mississippi State Bar, 2009-present.
• Author, "What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Employment Law," The Mississippi Lawyer, July/August 2000.
• Author, "A Guide to Women's Legal Rights in Mississippi," Mississippi State Bar, 1993.
• Presenter, "The Best of Legal Writing," video, first year students at Mississippi College School of Law.

• Wake Forest University Divinity School
  • Board of Visitors
• Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
  • Former Member, Governing Board
• Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Mississippi
  • Founder
  • Executive Committee
• Mississippi Economic Council
  • Board of Directors
  • Former Treasurer
• Northminster Baptist Church
  • Deacon (2020-2022)