2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards
Service to the Profession • Mary Terrell Joseph
Class of 1970
Member • McGlinchey
“Well, I was going to save the world, you see.”
Thus was Mary Terrell Joseph’s primary motivation for travelling to Spain in the fall of 1966 after earning her undergraduate degree at Hollins University, rather than launching a career or continuing her education.
“This was back before anybody called it a gap year, but that’s essentially what it was,” she explains. “The gist was I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I had majored in political science at Hollins and had applied to law school, but I wasn’t ready to go. I just wanted to make a positive difference somewhere.”
After nearly a year of living in Madrid and travelling and camping throughout Europe in her Volkswagen Beetle, the Shreveport-native returned home in the summer of 1967 and began plotting her next move. She considered the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps VISTA programs before deciding to become a social worker. She had heard great things about the LSU School of Social Welfare, which was housed in the basement of the Law Center, so she paid it a visit.
“I was told it was too late to apply, so I walked upstairs to the law school, where I had applied and been accepted the year before. I asked if I could enroll this year instead and they surprisingly said yes. So, I started classes three weeks later—as an accidental law student.”
Her experience at LSU Law would forever change the trajectory of Mary’s life, providing her with an education that would lead to a highly successful legal career, and a community in which she would make an indelible impact on the arts and education through her extensive volunteer work.
“That’s easy,” she says when asked what could have possibly kept the ambitious young woman with a touch of wanderlust in Baton Rouge, “I married Cheney.”
Mary Terrell and Cheney Joseph Jr. (’69) were married in December 1967. She was in her first semester at LSU Law and Cheney was in his second year. She had the first of their two boys during her final year of studies. Mary was among just eight women who graduated as part of the LSU Law Class of 1970. She practiced with Joesph & Joseph and then Sanders Downing before co-founding Rubin, Curry, Colvin, and Joseph in 1983, alongside colleagues with whom she continues to practice today at McGlinchey.
“Since I didn’t know many people from Baton Rouge, I joined Junior League right out of law school, which was wonderful. I met so many active women who I would have never met in my career. That really started my involvement in the community, and I guess it just took off from there.”
That’s a mammoth understatement. Over the past five decades, Mary has served on the boards or held leadership positions at the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, LSU Museum of Art, Louisiana State Arts Council, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Capital Area Network, Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Capital Area United Way, and Hollins University Board of Trustees, among others. In 2005, she served on the bench of the 19th Judicial District Court as an appointed Judge Pro Tempore.
She points to her upbringing when asked where she developed her sense of duty to serve.
“My grandparents and parents were always involved in the Shreveport community. My father was a businessman who was very active with United Way. My mother was married at 19 at the end of World War II and she volunteered in the community. In school we were always encouraged to do community service projects, so I guess that’s where all that comes from.”
Shortly after Cheney died in December 2015, Mary established an endowed professorship at LSU Law in his honor. Despite being a prominent attorney, Mary never got heavily involved in professional legal organizations or bar associations.
“I was too busy doing other things. I loved being involved with the arts because I got to work with so many fun and creative people. And it was good for business, too. You know, some people have a misguided notion that attorneys are just money hungry people, so volunteerism helps raise the reputation of our practice and lawyers in general.”
Mary continues to practice at McGlinchey, though she reduced her workload several years ago. She also continues to volunteer and serve on a number of local boards, but she spends more of her free time with friends and family these days.
And as for her progress on saving the world?
“I was doing pretty well for a while there,” she laughs, “but I think we’ve still got some work to do. I guess I’ll have to keep trying.”
