LEGAL
HISTORY
BRIEFS
Arkansas’ longstanding law firms tell story of state’s growth By Mark Carter // Photos by Steve Lewis
A
rkansans who need a refresher course on state history need only visit Paul Parnell at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock. His title reads firm member and CFO, but Parnell also serves in an unofficial capacity as firm historian. The Rose firm, established in 1820, is the oldest law firm in continuous practice west of the Mississippi and the oldest in Arkansas. Its history, like those of several longstanding firms in the state, is richly intertwined with Arkansas history. George Watkins, the original firm’s third partner and the first chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, codified the old territorial law when Arkansas was granted statehood in 1836. That first codified set of state laws rests inside the law library at the Rose firm, currently home to 41 attorneys based out of offices in Little Rock and Rogers. “Mr. Watkins was a key player in making sure we had laws in Arkansas,” Parnell said. The firm’s founders, Robert Crittenden and Chester Ashley, played important roles in the state’s early history. Crittenden was appointed by President James Monroe in 1819 as secretary and first acting governor of the Arkansas Territory to be essentially responsible for its organization. Crittenden County in northeast Arkansas is named for him. Ashley was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1844, served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and became the namesake of his own county, this one in southeast Arkansas. He was instrumental, Parnell said, in the development of downtown Little Rock. The firm also was home to the private practice of Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Arkansas First Lady, U.S. senator from New York and U.S. secretary of state during the Obama administration. Little Rock’s Friday, Eldredge & Clark was founded in 1871. It currently has 90 attorneys and an office in Rogers. Friday attorneys were crucial to the OC TO B ER 2 02 3
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