Mitchell Williams’ Take Time To Give program is the firm’s community service initiative that provides support to Arkansas civic and charitable organizations through financial contribution, volunteer hours and pro bono legal services. The selected organization will receive $25,000 in addition to advocacy and promotional support and resources throughout the year.

This year’s selected primary charity is ACCESS Group, Inc., which offers evaluation services, full-time education, therapy, training and activities for infants, children and youths with developmental delays and learning disabilities. The mission of ACCESS is to expand individual potential through innovative instruction. The school, therapy clinic and resource center serves children diagnosed with apraxia, autism, ADHD, dyslexia, feeding disorders, hearing and language impairments, reading disorders, sensory integration disorders and more.

The volunteer and leadership service activities by the firm’s attorneys and staff through Take Time To Give earned Mitchell Williams the 2011 Distinguished Service Award from the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Little Rock earlier this year.

To be considered for the 2012 primary charity, candidates must be Arkansas-based with services providing a statewide reach and impact. Nominations are being accepted from now through Nov. 30.

Along with the primary charity program, Mitchell Williams will continue its support of nonprofit missions throughout the state through the Take Time To Give website and its social media outlets – Facebook.com/TakeTimeToGive and Twitter.com/TakeTimeToGive. Nonprofits that are looking for monetary support are encouraged to submit an online application at TakeTimeToGive.com/requests. Organizations that would like to submit events and information to post on the website can send information to Holly Hiett at hhiett@mwlaw.com.

Engaging in service and leadership activities with organizations central to providing charitable, social, educational or cultural enrichment, Mitchell Williams’ Take Time To Give program has incorporated more than 200 organizations throughout Arkansas and the region since its launch as a formal initiative seven years ago.

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Mitchell Williams Providing strategic counsel on a variety of sophisticated legal matters for 57 years, the attorneys of Mitchell Williams bring together decades of diverse professional experience and extensive relationships to offer clients in Arkansas and across the United States the most comprehensive services and solutions possible. The firm employs 85 attorneys from offices in Arkansas, Texas, New York and Washington, D.C. Visit www.MitchellWilliamsLaw.com to learn more.

Formerly the Director of Government Affairs for Barnert Associates, Inc., New York, Mr. Stephenson worked from its beginning with the Group of North American Insurance Enterprises, an organization of life, property, casualty and reinsurance companies organized to follow and address international accounting and solvency. Mr. Stephenson also has extensive experience addressing U.S.  Statutory Accounting and solvency issues with the NAIC, working with the Accounting Practices and Procedures, Capital Adequacy and Valuation of Securities groups, individual regulators, states and NAIC staff to resolve client problems with current and proposed standards.  He also assisted the investment committee of the National Alliance of Life Companies in the effort to rationalize the application of Sarbanes-Oxley to small and medium sized insurers. 

“We believe his record of success and his reputation compliment the strategic, client-focused services our team of attorneys already provides, and his established contacts and familiarity in this area of the law will serve as valuable resources,” said Mitchell Williams’ Managing Director Harry Hamlin.

Stephenson is currently licensed to practice in New York and is a member of the New York Bar, New York City Bar (Insurance Committee 2005-07), New York County Bar American Bar Association. He joins the firm after spending a year living with his wife and son in Tallinn, Estonia.

Mitchell Williams’ Insurance Regulatory team provides national counsel in virtually every aspect of insurance-related corporate governance, regulatory, transactional, and legislative matters for insurers, reinsurers, health care organizations, managed care entities, trade associations, state regulators and others.

Mitchell Williams’ managing director, Harry Hamlin, views Washington, D.C. as the next logical step in building the firm’s growing national presence. The office will be led by attorney Randi Reichel, previously an independent consultant with a national practice whose clients included America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Reichel joined the firm in June of last year.

“Health care laws and policies are rapidly changing, so we believe it is critical to have a D.C. presence that will allow us to provide clients with greater access to the vast knowledge and experience needed to understand and anticipate changes related to this federal legislation,” Hamlin said. “Ms. Reichel’s expertise and reputation among health insurers and providers expands the level of strategic client-focused services our attorneys already provide and positions us at the center of federal agencies. Her established contacts and familiarity in this area of the law will serve as a valuable resource to our clients.”

A number of the firm’s current and former attorneys have experience working in Washington, D.C. in government service, private practice, and for national trade associations.

The Capitol Hill District location at 601 Pennsylvania Ave. is the fifth office for the firm, joining four additional office locations in Arkansas, Texas and New York.

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About Mitchell Williams

Providing strategic counsel on a variety of sophisticated legal matters since 1954, Mitchell Williams combines decades of diverse professional experience with extensive relationships to offer clients across the United States the most comprehensive services possible. Today, the firm employs 77 attorneys from five offices in Arkansas, Texas, New York and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.MitchellWilliamsLaw.com.

“Mr. Mitchell was one of the great Arkansas lawyers of our time who worked to cultivate a better state for all of its citizens,” said Mitchell Williams Managing Director Harry Hamlin. “Moreover, he was a father figure, friend and mentor to many of us and took an absolute delight in pursuing his passions with respect to business, politics, and philanthropy.”

“Maurice was a great man, an exceptional attorney and someone who meant a great deal to everyone at Mitchell Williams. We shall proudly carry on his legacy of excellence, commitment and caring, and extend our deepest sympathies to the entire Mitchell family.”

Maurice Mitchell earned his Juris Doctorate from the Law School at Washington and Lee University in 1948, and quickly began his long and distinguished professional career.

Mitchell first served as an agent of the Internal Revenue Service (1948-49), then joined the Arkansas State Revenue Department as Assistant Attorney (1949-51). He was admitted to the state bar in 1949 and entered the private practice of law in Little Rock in 1951. On Jan. 1, 1954, Mitchell became a member and co-founder of the law firm now known as Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C.

Mitchell was instrumental in establishing the firm’s statewide and regional reputation in the field of banking and finance law, having handled the first conversion of an Arkansas federally-chartered savings and loan association into a national bank.

Mitchell also spent many years representing Arkansas nationally on the political front, including having served as chairman of U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers’ campaign finance committee in 1992 while also serving as a member of the William J. Clinton presidential campaign’s national finance committee, and delegate to the Democratic National Convention the same year. Additionally, he served on the Clinton-Gore national finance committee in 1996 and was legal counsel to the Democratic Party of Arkansas from 1993 to 1998.

As a graduate of the Little Rock school system, Mitchell had an intense personal interest in the polarizing 1957 desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School. He worked behind the scenes in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the closing of the area’s public schools in 1958, and then aided a successful effort to recall segregationist school board members in 1959 (known as the S.T.O.P. campaign). Mitchell’s lifelong commitment to the city’s public school system was further evidenced by his service as chairman of numerous campaigns to secure additional funding for the public schools.

Mitchell’s progressive views and civic-mindedness were never confined to education. He was an active member and leader of numerous organizations, including the Little Rock Junior Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas State Junior Chamber of Commerce, Fifty for the Future, Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church Foundation, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Foundation Fund Board.

Among Mitchell’s many accolades and awards, the 1992 dedication and naming of the H. Maurice Mitchell Courtroom at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law  was one of the most significant. His efforts were recognized often by a varied and distinguished group of organizations, including the National Humanitarian Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Arkansas, the Vincent Foster Jr. Outstanding Lawyer Award from the Pulaski County Bar Association, the Edwin Hanlon Memorial Award for Outstanding Individual Contributions to the Arts from the Little Rock Arts and Humanities Association, the Outstanding Service Award from the Arkansas Bar Foundation, the William F. Rector Memorial Award for Distinguished Civic Achievement from Fifty for the Future, the Citizen of the Year Award from the Arkansas Chapter of the March of Dimes, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Award from the Arkansas Arts Center.

Mitchell was born October 23, 1925, in Clarendon, a small eastern Arkansas farming town located between Little Rock and Memphis.  Mitchell is survived by his wife, Betty, and three of their children: H. Maurice (Maury) Mitchell Jr., David Stockley Mitchell, and Nancy Elizabeth Mitchell. His fourth child, Mary Margaret (Mimi) Mitchell passed in 2005.  He is also survived by his devoted friend and co-worker of 51 years, Leah Caradine.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, April 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Ruebel Funeral Home in Little Rock. The funeral service will follow on Thursday, April 7 at 11 a.m. at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church.

According to the publication, the Arkansas Business “Power List” is a compilation of the people who are running the largest business, professional and nonprofit entities in the state. This year’s installment includes 192 leaders in 20 different industry categories.

Hamlin’s practice focuses primarily on commercial transactions, real estate, secured lending, corporate law, utility regulation and administrative law.  A former Assistant Attorney General for the state of Arkansas, he advises businesses and individuals in all aspects of commercial transactions.

Hamlin is a member of the American, Arkansas and Pulaski County Bar Associations, and has been listed in the publications Chambers USA in real estate category and The Best Lawyers in America in the area of project finance law. 

The former Arkansas Air National Guard Lt. Colonel is also a board member for Argenta Community Development Corporation, Metropolitan YMCA, Junior Achievement of Arkansas, Pulaski Technical College Foundation, Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (C.A.R.T.I.) Foundation, and serves as a member of the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Business and Commercial Services Advisory Council. 

Hamlin is a 1995 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. He completed his undergraduate work at the United States Air Force Academy.

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 About Mitchell Williams

Providing strategic counsel on a variety of sophisticated legal matters since 1954, Mitchell Williams combines decades of diverse professional experience with extensive relationships to offer clients across the United States the most comprehensive services possible. Today, the firm employs 77 attorneys from five offices in Arkansas, Texas, New York and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.MitchellWilliamsLaw.com.

The FDCC, founded in 1936, is an invitation-only, international organization of 1300 lawyers and corporate counsel involved in tort and commercial litigation. It is composed of recognized leaders in the legal community – from all 50 states and 15 countries – who have achieved professional distinction. The group is dedicated to promoting knowledge, fellowship, and professionalism of its members as they pursue the course of a balanced justice system and represent those in need of defense in civil lawsuits.

Baker provides counsel to clients on matters regarding contract, real estate, and class action defense litigation.  Named a leading lawyer by the publications Chambers USA and the Best Lawyers in America, he is also admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court and a member of the American, Eighth Circuit, Arkansas, and Pulaski County Bar Associations, the William R. Overton Inn of Court, and The St. Thomas More Legal Society of Arkansas, Inc. In 2009, Arkansas Business named him to its elite “Forty Under Forty” list for potential leadership in state politics and business over the next decade.

Baker has contributed significantly to the community through his 1997 co-founding of Tree Streets, Inc., a nonprofit urban forestry organization devoted to adding or restoring natural canopy to Little Rock’s downtown neighborhoods where he continues to serve as a board member and volunteer. He has also served his as Past President and board member of Camp Aldersgate, Inc, as board member and secretary of the Camp Aldersgate Foundation, Inc., and as a member and past board chairman of the Quapaw Quarter Association, Inc.

Membership in the FDCC is highly selective and limited to 1,000 lawyers in the United States. Before being selected by the Board of Directors, each nominee is carefully reviewed by an independent Admissions Committee charged with insuring that those selected have distinguished themselves professionally and are of excellent moral character according to the organization.

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About Mitchell Williams

Providing strategic counsel on a variety of sophisticated legal matters since 1954, Mitchell Williams combines decades of diverse professional experience with extensive relationships to offer clients across the United States the most comprehensive services possible. Today, the firm employs 77 attorneys from five offices in Arkansas, Texas, New York and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.MitchellWilliamsLaw.com.

Fellowship in the College is extended only by invitation after careful investigation to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of 15 years of trial experience before being considered for fellowship.

Cook’s practice is primarily focused on providing counsel to physicians, dentists, nurses, hospitals and insurance companies in defending professional liability claims and medical malpractice litigation.

In addition to the ACTL, Cook is an active member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Judge Henry Woods Chapter of the American Inns of Court, Defense Research Institute (DRI) and American Bar Association. He has also been named to the publication The Best Lawyers In America in the area of medical malpractice since 2009.

Cook received a juris doctorate from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1978.  Locally, he is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association and Pulaski County Bar Association. Cook joined Mitchell Williams in 2004 after working 26 years in private practice for several other firms. 

According to ACTL, membership in the College can never exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province. Qualified lawyers are called to Fellowship in the College from all branches of trial practice. They are selected from advocates who represent plaintiffs or defendants in civil proceedings of all types, as well as prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers.

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 About Mitchell Williams

Providing strategic counsel on a variety of sophisticated legal matters since 1954, Mitchell Williams combines decades of diverse professional experience with extensive relationships to offer clients across the United States the most comprehensive services possible. Today, the firm employs 77 attorneys from five offices in Arkansas, Texas, New York and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.MitchellWilliamsLaw.com.

Barrier, a 1964 graduate of Hendrix and Duke University School of Law alumnus, has practiced with Mitchell Williams 43 years concentrating on municipal finance, secured lending and real estate matters.  He has been listed in the publication “The Best Lawyers in America” in the real estate law category, and has served twice as chairman of the Arkansas Bar Association banking law section and as chairman of its real estate section. 

In addition to his past leadership as chair of the Hendrix Alumni Association and the Alumni Loyalty Fund, Barrier also founded Friends of the Zoo, Inc. in Little Rock, has served as a trustee of the Arkansas Arts Center, and as a member of the board of directors for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO) Society, ASO Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Arkansas. He is also an active volunteer for Mitchell Williams’ Take Time To Give program – the firm’s community service initiative that provides monetary and volunteer support to civic and charitable organizations throughout Arkansas and the region.

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About Mitchell Williams

Providing strategic counsel on a variety of sophisticated legal matters since 1954, Mitchell Williams combines decades of diverse professional experience with extensive relationships to offer clients across the United States the most comprehensive services possible. Today, the firm employs 77 attorneys from five offices in Arkansas, Texas, New York and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.MitchellWilliamsLaw.com.

About Hendrix College

Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is featured in the 2010 edition of the “Princeton Review” as one of the country’s best 371 colleges, was identified as the nation’s top “Up and Coming” liberal arts college for 2011 by “U.S. News and World Report,” and is ranked among 45 “Best Buy” colleges by the “2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges.” Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.