How does Little Rock Soirée determine which lawyers make the list?
Best Lawyers is a two-component voting system: peer-review voting and voting by readers of Arkansas Business and Little Rock Soirée. We rely on the lawyers’ expertise to determine who deserves to be on the list and on our readers to tell us how their experiences with individual lawyers rank.
This year, we emailed local lawyers from our online directory, inviting them to vote via an online ballot. We also solicited votes from readers through our e-newsletter, social media pages and websites. Our research editor then tallied the votes, and we examined the list to confirm Arkansas Bar status and practice specialty for each lawyer.
How do you pick the categories?
We included categories that would be helpful to both business and personal clients.
Do lawyers pay to be on the list?
No, a lawyer cannot pay to be on the list. After the editorial staff finalizes the list, it is given to our sales department, which invites lawyers to buy profiles. These profiles appear on the pages linked below and are paid advertising. Whether the lawyers choose to advertise has no bearing on this list.
Here is Little Rock Soirée’s list of the Top Lawyers in 19 specialties as voted by their peers and our readers:
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE
Matt House | James, House & Downing
Scotty Shively | ADR
Jim Tilley | Watts, Donovan & Tilley
Megan Wells | Hilburn Law Firm
APPELLATE
Misty Wilson Borkowski | Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, PC
Tim Cullen | Cullen & Co., PLLC
Benjamin R. McCorkle | Beacon Legal Group PLLC
Lee Short | Short Law Firm
Tasha C. Taylor | Taylor & Taylor Law Firm, PA
BANKRUPTCY
Lyndsey D. Dilks | Dilks Law Firm
Joe Kolb | j. kolb
Kelly McNulty | Gill Ragon Owen, PA
David Mitchell | Rose Law Firm
John Rainwater | Rainwater Holt & Sexton
BUSINESS LITIGATION
Kayla Applegate | James, House & Downing
M. Steven Bingham | Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, PC
Gregory M. Hopkins | Hopkins Law Firm
Pat James | James, House & Downing
Tré Kitchens | The Brad Hendricks Law Firm
Amy C. Markham | Spicer Rudstrom PLLC
Kathleen M. McDonald | Beacon Legal Group PLLC
J. Andrew Vines | Johnson & Vines. PLLC
Perry Wilson | Barber Law Firm
Jeff Swann | PPGMR Law
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Charles “Skip” Davidson | Davidson Law Firm
Dick Downing | James, House & Downing
Tim Grooms | Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull PLLC
Cliff McKinney | Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull, PLLC
Patrick Spivey | Fuqua Campbell, PA
Jay Taylor | Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP
CORPORATE FINANCE
Courtney Crouch | Mitchell Williams
CORPORATE FINANCE —MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Bryan Duke | Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP
Fred M. Perkins III | Wright Lindsey Jennings
CORPORATE INSURANCE
Sarah Cullen | Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Boone, PA
David P. Glover | Wright Lindsey Jennings
Mariam Hopkins | Anderson, Murphy & Hopkins, LLP
Anthony C. Johnson | Johnson & Vines, PLLC
Shane Strabala | Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Boone, PA
Amy Tracy | Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Boone, PA
CORPORATE LAW
Erin S. Brogdon | Wright Lindsey Jennings
Cal McCastlain | Dover Dixon Horne PLLC
Amber Wilson Bagley | Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, PC
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
Patrick and Kara Benca | Benca & Benca
Toney Brasuell | Files & Brasuell, PLLC
Erin Cassinelli | Lassiter & Cassinelli
Pamela Epperson Panasiuk | Epperson Panasiuk Law
Marjorie E. Rogers | LaCerra, Dickson, Hoover, & Rogers, PLLC
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Julie Greathouse | PPGMR Law
Sam Ledbetter | McMath Woods PA
Alan Perkins | PPGMR Law
Brian Rosenthal | Rose Law Firm
ERISA
Bryant K. Cranford | Rose Law Firm
Troy A. Price | Wright Lindsey Jennings
Scott Straus | Barber Law Firm
FAMILY LAW
Katherine Blackmon Carroll | Law Offices of Katherine E. Blackmon
Natalie J. Dickson | LaCerra, Dickson, Hoover, & Rogers, PLLC
Stephanie Linam | Davidson Law Firm
Keith Pike | Pike Law Firm
Jocelyn Stotts | Kamps & Stotts, PLLC
Charley Swann | James, House & Downing
Megan E. Wooster | M.W. Law, PLLC
LABOR LAW
L. Bruce Cross | Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, PC
Denise Hoggard | Rainwater Holt & Sexton
Missy McJunkins Duke | Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, PC
Jenny Teeter | Gill Ragon Owen, PA
Brent Wakefield | Barber Law Firm
Danna J. Young | Law Office of Danna Young, PA
LITIGATION
Matthew Finch | Gill, Ragon Owen, PA
Stephen A. Hester | Spicer Rudstrom, PLLC
Lauren White Hoover | LaCerra, Dickson, Hoover, & Rogers, PLLC
David Kamps | Kamps & Stotts, PLLC
Michael McCarty Harrison | Watts, Donovan & Tilley, PA
Randy P. Murphy | Anderson, Murphy & Hopkins, LLP
Regina A. Young | Wright Lindsey Jennings
PERSONAL INJURY
David Couch | David A. Couch, PLLC
Gary Green | Law Offices of Gary Green
Kayce Green | Law Offices of Gary Green
Michael Lewis | Knapp Lewis Law Firm
Jack Lofton | Johnson & Vines, PLLC
Mike Rainwater | Rainwater Holt & Sexton
Brian Reddick | Reddick Moss, PLLC
Andy Taylor | Taylor & Taylor Law Firm, PA
TAXATION
Christopher Brockett | Robertson, Beasley, & Shipley, PLLC
Paul Parnell | Rose Law Firm
Carrold E. Ray | Hilburn, Calhoon, Harper, Pruniski & Calhoun, Ltd
Jennifer Stewart | Kutak Rock, LLP
John Tisdale | Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, LLP
Vincent M. Ward | Wolff & Ward, PLLC
TRUST & ESTATES
Traci LaCerra | LaCerra, Dickson, Hoover, & Rogers, PLLC
Wayne B. Ball | Ball Corley PLLC
M. Gayle Corley | Ball Corley PLLC
Laura Dyer Johnson | Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & Galchus, PC
Raymon Harvey | The Raymon B. Harvey Law Firm
John B. Peace | Dover Dixon Horne PLLC
Bethany Gulley Pike | The Elrod Firm
Adam D. Reid | Barber Law Firm
Thomas C. Vaughan, Jr. | Lax, Vaughan, Fortson, Rowe, & Threet, PA
WHITE COLLAR CRIME
Chuck Banks | Banks Law Firm, PLLC
Jane Duke | Mitchell Williams
Blake Hendrix | Fuqua Campbell, PA
Jack Lassiter | Lassiter & Cassinelli