We knew him as far back — at least as far back as Cub Scouts, maybe earlier.

We remember him as a brilliant student through high school, a musician in the South Panola High School Band and as drummer for the Archmen, a rock and roll band that spun out of Beatle-mania, stole all the girls’ hearts and left us other boys caught between admiration and envy.

His academic excellence continued at Ole Miss as an undergraduate student and then in law school. He married his high school sweetheart and raised a family while helping to build a law practice that grew into one of the state’s most successful.

If all of that sounds a little too serendipitous, that’s because it fails to take into account a focused work ethic that has driven him for many long hours, days and years on behalf of his clients and his bedrock integrity that is respected by everyone who knows him including the attorneys who have opposed him.

Behind the scenes of his law practice, he has extensively promoted the economic development that has allowed his community to prosper. In community crises, he has provided wise counsel and calm voice when some around him might have been foolish and strident.

His influence and insight are not limited to Batesville’s and Panola’s boundaries. Early on he recognized the importance of regional advancement whether it be our neighbors in the Delta or along the I-55 corridor and has worked to not only promote those areas but to assist with finding solutions to problems they face.

In announcing today his candidacy for the State Supreme Court today, Richard “Flip” Phillips freely expresses admiration for retiring Justice George C. Carlson whose replacement he seeks to become, vowing to continue the fair and balanced court that Justice Carlson sought to build.

We have been fortunate for these ten years to have had Justice Carlson on the state’s highest court. The bar of justice for all Mississippians has been raised to a higher standard because of it.

And how unusual, how very unusual, that just as we had become resigned to that seat being occupied by someone whose attributes are unknown to us, we learn that the one person who can step in and carry forward Carlson’s tradition without missing a step has offered his candidacy.

In his announcement, Phillips touches some of the usual voter concerns, vowing to stand behind the hard working men and women of law enforcement and to make the resolution of civil disputes regarding property rights less expensive.

However, Phillips is not the usual politician. He has not even sought elective office before this race, but he has spent a lifetime honing the legal and personal skills that make him eminently qualified to serve on the state’s highest court.

We look forward to the privilege of casting our ballot for him in November.