(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Foxworth, Shepard and Bruhl, PA, Attorney Ryan Bruhl.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born at St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington, La., on Dec. 1, 1984.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I graduated from Salem Attendance Center in Walthall County. After high school, I attended Southwest Mississippi Community College and Southern Miss. I went to law school at Mississippi College School of Law.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I am an attorney at Foxworth, Shepard and Bruhl, PA, here in Columbia. I also serve as Municipal Judge for the Town of Tylertown, a Justice Court Judge, Youth Court Referee and Family Master for Walthall County.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: I started working for the Walthall County Circuit Clerk after graduating high school. During my employment there, I worked around attorneys and judges and decided that a career in law would be a good fit for me.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: As an attorney, a lot of what we do is help our clients solve problems. I enjoy being able to meet with clients who are facing difficulties in life and helping them overcome them. We also ensure that our clients are protected as they enter into transactions. It’s very rewarding to see a client or their business for which you have advised and provided services achieve success. As a justice court judge, it is my goal to see that litigants are treated fairly and that criminal acts are dealt with fairly but firmly. When you see someone who has previously appeared in court before you start a new job or other new journey in life, I’d like to think that somehow I helped them make that decision to follow a new path.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: My role as Youth Court Referee is probably the most challenging. Working with CPS and Youth Services to ensure that children brought before the court are safe and given every opportunity to be productive citizens can be a challenge.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: You can be firm but respectful at the same time. An attorney can represent his client’s interests while being respectful and kind to opposing counsel and their clients. I have handled matters against people who later became my clients. This is important in our small communities.
Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: A fireman. I had a great-uncle who worked for a fire department in the New Orleans area, and he would take me to the station to see the fire trucks. As a child, the excitement of the lights and sirens overshadowed the difficult job those individuals face when they respond to calls.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I grew up on a dairy farm, so I worked around there with my dad until he decided to stop farming. In the fourth grade, I started working for Bro. Jackie Cooke on his emu farm.
Q: Who is the person who has been most influential in your life?
A: Other than my parents and grandparents, who have always supported me and helped me achieve the goals I set in life, the Salem Community where I lived and was raised has always been very supportive of me. From that community, Earl and Helen Boyd and Jimmy and Joyce Bracey especially invested time in me and taught me the importance of being involved in the community.
Q: What is your spouse’s name?
A: My wife’s name is Jennifer Stringer Bruhl, and she is employed by the USDA at the Natural Resource Conservation Service in Tylertown.
Q: Do you have children?
A: Jennifer and I have one son, Jack, who is two, and we are expecting our second child, a daughter, in March.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: Barbeque shrimp and a ribeye steak from The Caboose in McComb.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I like to visit historic sites, and Jennifer and I would especially love to visit Greece. The history, culture and landscapes make it appealing to us.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I enjoy gardening and working in the yard. Jack is now at the age that he likes to follow me around, so we routinely visit our friends, Larry Martin and Doug Popwell. They have dairy farm, where we ride and look at the cows and feed the calves. I enjoy any time I spend with Jack.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: Columbia has small-town charm mixed with abundant diversity in businesses and opportunities, which is unique to a town this size. I love how the community and businesses came together to create one of the best marketing tools around with the Columbia Christmas experience.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: Since working at Foxworth, Shepard and Bruhl, I have had numerous individuals and clients express their admiration and respect for Mr. Dick Foxworth (a founder of the firm who died in 2005). The words they have used to describe his character are words I would hope clients and people say about me. Therefore, I would have to say lunch with him would be my pick.
Q: If you didn’t have to worry about money, what would you do all day?
A: Mission work and community development projects. Jennifer and I have gone on mission trips with the Tri-County Baptist Association. These trips have helped me realize how very blessed we are here in South Mississippi, and how much we take for granted. The Tri-County mission trips teams you with like-minded individuals and gives you an opportunity to show and share the love of Christ with others. My time as chamber president in Walthall County allowed me to work with the economic development group and with individuals creating new businesses and those who have ideas to improve our communities.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: I served as a page for Thad Cochran in Washington for six months during my 11th grade year. As I worked alongside 30 or so other high school students from all over the country, I was able to witness firsthand the way our government works and was introduced to cultural differences in our country. I would have to say this has had the greatest impact on my professional life.
Q: What is one thing you want to do that you’ve never tried?
A: I think I would like to get my pilot’s license. We had Jack’s second birthday party at the Tylertown Airport. Several pilots were flying their planes that day, and I decided that is something I might like to do.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three morals?
A: Integrity, honesty and compassion.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: First of all, I would like to be remembered as a Godly husband and father, and secondly, as a good community-minded man.
— Joshua Campbell
Pictured Above: Foxworth, Shepard and Bruhl, PA, Attorney Ryan Bruhl said he loves Columbia’s small-town charm, and it has unique diversity and business opportunities for its size. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
