Arkansas

Friday Eldredge & Clark

Friday Eldredge & Clark, commonly known as “The Friday Firm,” is an Arkansas-focused firm with a distinguished history serving clients across a wide range of practice areas. The firm, which is the largest in Arkansas, employing close to a hundred attorneys, offers a strong corporate practice that complements general business and commercial litigation capabilities regarded by peers as second to none. The firm’s expertise extends well beyond the commercial realm, however, encompassing more than fifty practice areas, including government affairs, regulatory law, employment and healthcare. In-depth understanding of horse racing and gaming law is one of the more niche practice areas the firm has cornered over the years. A short list of the firm’s notable clients of late includes names such as Baptist Heath, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Little Rock School District, Entergy, Cargill, Browning Arms Company, Pfizer and Murphy Oil.  William Waddell, Jr. is a standout name for the firm who heads up the commercial litigation and regulation practice group. He frequently represents banks, insurance companies, health care entities and various associations. Kevin Crass leads the class action and business ligation group. He focuses his practice on class action claims involving everything from securities fraud to patent and trademark infringement to environmental and toxic torts. William Mell Griffin III is a highly experienced trial lawyer who concentrates much of his work on defending clients against claims involving product liability and medical malpractice.  

The full-service law firm of Quattlebaum Grooms & Tull maintains a strong presence within the Northwest and beyond. “I would not hesitate to hire any of these attorneys for any type of case anywhere in the United States.” The firm provides a wide range of legal services and hold strong to their commitment to clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to government bodies to individuals. “The quality of their work is second to none.  They have the ability to staff cases with knowledgeable attorneys who are excellent in court and keenly aware of the cost pressures facing in house counsel.” Steven Quattlebaum, a “top tier trial lawyer,” serves as the lead attorney in one of the bellwether trials in Dallas, Texas before the District Court for the Northern District on the products liability multidistrict litigation trial team for Johnson & Johnson alleging defective artificial hip implants. More than 9,000 pinnacle hip complaints pending in the MDL alleging the defective device, with a pending trial scheduled for September 2017. “This is an outstanding firm” raves a client, adding “Steve Quattlebaum is one of the finest trial lawyers in the country.  He has mastered the art and science of courtroom presentation -- opening and closing statements, witness examinations, use of documents, and so on.  He and his team also have practical and client-focused strategic skills, brilliant legal analytical skills, and excellent written and oral presentation skills.” Distinguished litigators John Tull III and E.B. “Chip” Chiles IV were part of the trial team lead by Steven Quattlebaum on a matter representing a subsidiary of McKesson Corp, a pharmaceutical and medical supply distributor. In its effort to prevent the state of Arkansas from using its drug to execute eight death-row inmates in Arkansas in April 2017, McKesson was granted a preliminary injunction after a contested hearing in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County after alleging the Arkansas Department of Correction misled a McKesson employee to obtain 100 vials of vecuronium bromide – the second of three drugs the state uses in lethal injections – by using a medical license to place a telephone order for the drug and asking that it be shipped to a department address where medical supplies for non-execution purposes had been previously delivered. McKesson’s remaining claims are still pending, while the Arkansas Supreme Court stayed the circuit court’s preliminary injunction. Michael Shannon, Managing Member of the firm maintains an active practice focusing on complex commercial, personal injury, class action, and products liability litigation. He is part of the trial team representing Entergy Arkansas, Inc. and Entergy Operations, Inc. in a number of cases that arise from a major accident at a nuclear power plant. Personal injury actions, breach of contract and negligence actions, and insurance coverage disputes are currently pending on this incident that resulted in one death and approximately $100 million in damages to the firm’s clients. 

Wright Lindsey & Jennings

Wright Lindsey & Jennings is a full-service firm that operates two offices in Little Rock in addition to maintaining a presence in northwest Arkansas through a Rogers’ office. With a history dating back more than a century, the firm has developed a formidable litigation practice capable of defending both large and individual clients facing an array of claims. Practice areas of emphasis include appellate litigation, construction, toxic torts, labor and employment, trucking, admiralty and maritime, professional liability, public utilities, insurance defense and more. The firm’s managing partner, Ed Lowther, Jr., is among the star attorneys singled out for an excellent litigation-focused skill set. Lowther has significant experience handling class action and multi-district litigation in both state and federal courts. In recent years he served as trial counsel for a major agricultural company facing multi-million negligence claims and represented a large hospital system facing malpractice claims. Gordon Rather, Jr., is another go-to trial lawyer known for handling high-stakes class-action litigation. One competitor, referring to the above-mentioned attorneys, says, “They are certainly people with good reputations. If I were in trouble those are the guys I would go to.”