The Mississippi Bar was first a voluntary membership organization formed in 1821. However, this association ended four years later. It was restarted in 1886 but ended six years after that. In 1905 it was started again. During the Great Depression, membership declined because the public did not thing that the lawyers were ethical. So, the main lawyers in Mississippi got the state to pass its Unified Bar Act in 1932, which led to the current required Bar assocation.