Judicial Sidebar
March 2-8, 2020
By Rob Moritz
Six of the 17 seats in the state’s Sixth Judicial Circuit, which covers Pulaski and Perry counties, are on the March 3 ballot. Four of those nonpartisan judicial races involve three candidates each, setting up several potential runoff elections if needed on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. The judicial positions are for six-year terms. Two of the six contested circuit judge races are for seats that fall under the “Hunt Decree,” an agreement that is part of a 1992 federal settlement designed to expand the number of black judges. The two are Division 8, Subdistrict 6.1, and Division 10, Subdistrict 6, covering just the southeastern and part of the eastern areas of Pulaski County. Winners of those two seats will serve as juvenile court judges.
DIVISION 8
Tijuana Byrd, who is black, faces Suzanne Lumpkin, who is white, in the Division 8 election. The two are running for the seat held by Judge Wiley Branton who is retiring.
Byrd, 52, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law. She has been practicing law for 23 years and her law firm focuses on juvenile and family matters. She has nearly 15 years of experience in dependency neglect cases as attorney ad litem, and nearly 14 years handling Families in Need of Services cases. She has served as an assistant city attorney for the city of North Little Rock and as a Sherwood public defender. She is a member of the Legislative Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force. Byrd has been president of the Woman’s Foundation of Arkansas, the Pulaski County Council for Youth Services Advisory board, and the W. Harold Flowers Law Society.
Lumpkin, 57, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law and in her 16 years as an attorney has focused on dependency/neglect and juvenile law as a family law attorney.
She has served on the Women and Children Board, the Governor’s Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence, and Institutional Review Board at John L. McClellan Veterans Administration Medical Center and the VA Hospital. She is also in the Association of Women Lawyers.
DIVISION 10
Also, under the “Hunt Decree,” the candidates in Division 10 are Shanice Johnson, Lott Rolfe IV, and Jonathan Q. Warren. The three black candidates are seeking the seat held by Judge Joyce Warren, who is retiring.
Johnson, 31, works in the Human Services Department’s Office of Chief Counsel. She has provided legal assistance to several groups, including the Center for Arkansas Legal Services and the Shorter College Expungement Clinic. She is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law, and volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
Rolfe, 47, of Maumelle, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law. He is a former Maumelle City Council member and staff attorney for the city of Little Rock. He runs his own law firm and works part-time for the Public Defender Commission, while also serving on the state Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence Commission. Rolfe’s community service includes the Arkansas Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence and was on the executive committee of the Arkansas Heart ball in 2018.
Warren, 47, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law and the son of the retiring judge. He works for the law firm Rainwater, Holt & Sexton, and has been appointed as special associate to the Arkansas Supreme Court. He has also served as a deputy prosecuting attorney, an assistant state attorney general and is an active member of the W. Harold Flowers Law Society.
DIVISION 2, Subdistrict 6.2
Hugh Finkelstein, Scott Richardson and Casey Tucker are running for the Division 2 seat to replace Judge Chris Piazza, who is stepping down from his post.
Finkelstein, 55, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law and is chief deputy prosecuting attorney for the 20th Judicial District of Arkansas, which covers Faulkner, Searcy and Van Buren counties. He served as Little Rock District Judge in 2017 and 2018. He has twice served as a special justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court and is former division chief of the 6th Circuit prosecuting attorney’s office.
Richardson, 48, is a law partner at McDaniel, Wolff & Benca, and is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law. He spent nine years in the attorney general’s office under former AG and Gov. Mike Beebe and former AG Dustin McDaniel. While in the AG’s office, he served as lead counsel for the state in the Little Rock desegregation case and helped to negotiate an end to the state’s involvement in that historic – in 2013. He also was co-counsel for the state in the precedent-setting Lake View School decision in 2007.
Tucker, 47, is a Little Rock attorney and graduate of the University of Arkansas Law School in Fayetteville. She has been practicing law for more 20 years and has represented hundreds of clients in civil and criminal cases. She provides pro bono service to clients through the Centers for Legal Services and is active with 20th Century Club, which provides lodging and meals for cancer patients undergoing treatment.
DIVISION 14, Subdistrict 6.2
Andrew “Andy” Ballard, Tom Barron and Shawn Johnson are running for the seat held by Judge Vann Smith, who is retiring.
Ballard, 39, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School Law and practices family law. He is the author of “Arkansas Practice Series: Family Law and Practice,” published by Thompson Reuters. He is certified ad litem for children and incapacitated adults and has presented CLEs in family law and probate matters.
Barron, 61, is a graduate of the University of Arkansas Law School and has a private practice. He practiced law for 35 years, focusing on trial work, including criminal defense, domestic, probate and general civil litigation. Barron was appointed to the Arkansas Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (JLAP) Committee by the state Supreme Court in 2017 and has served as chairman. In 2014, he received the JLAP Justice Robert L. Brown Community Support Award. He has served on the board and has chaired the Friends of Recovery Foundation Inc., currently serving as general counsel.
Johnson, 43, is a graduate of the University of Arkansas Law School and has been practicing law for more than 20 years. He has worked in the state attorney general’s office under two attorneys’ generals and is currently an assistant attorney general in the consumer protection. He has worked to stop robocalling and to reduce opioid use. Johnson began his career as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Robert T. Smith of Fort Smith. As a private practice lawyer, he specialized in insurance regulation.
DIVISION 15, Subdistrict 6.1
Amy Dunn Johnson, Gary Rogers and Jay Shue are running for the seat being vacated by retiring Judge Richard Moore.
Johnson, 44, is executive director of the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission and Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation. She is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law. She is a former deputy reporter of decisions for the state Supreme Court and Court of appeals and in private practice she specialized in advising health care clients such as hospitals, pharmacies and mental-health providers.
Rogers, 63, was a Prairie County district judge in Hazen. He now practices law at Dover Dixon Horne law firm in Little Rock. He is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law. Twice, he has been named Pulaski County’s Family Lawyer of the Year by the Best Lawyer’s legal guide and has served as a special justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Shue, 49, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law and has more than 24 years of experience practicing law. In his solo law firm, he handles healthcare, Medicaid and government relations. The former deputy prosecutor for Pulaski County, was the state’s first Medicaid inspector general, appointed by Gov. Mike Beebe from 2013 to 2015.
Previously, he had spent six years as a deputy attorney in the attorney general’s office overseeing the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
AT-LARGE CIRCUIT COURT
LaTonya Laird Austin and Judge Andy Gill are running for the at-large circuit court seat being vacated by Judge Mary McGowan, who is retiring.
Austin, 43, is a graduate of the UALR Bowen School of Law and is a solo practitioner, legal aid helpline attorney and a neutral hearing office for housing appeals. She has worked in the Pulaski County prosecutor’s office and as a public defender. In her private practice, she focuses on family law, probate law, civil litigation and criminal defense. In the past nine years she had had multiple opportunities to set as a special judge in district and circuit courts in Pulaski County. She is past president of the W. Harold Flowers Law Society.
Judge Andy Gill, 44, graduated from the UALR Bowen School of law and was elected district court judge in 2012. He previously was a deputy prosecuting attorney in Saline County handling felony case, juvenile cases and drug court. As a solo practitioner, he focuses on family and small business law. In 2018 he was Arkansas Drug Court Professionals Association Lawyer of the Year. He is on the board of directors of the Arkansas District Judges Association and chairs the Criminal Law Section of the Arkansas Bar Association.
PHOTO CAPTION: (Photo provided)
Judicial candidates for circuit judge run in nonpartisan elections and are required to have been licensed attorneys in the state for six years preceding the date of assuming office. Circuit judges serve a six-year term.
