News Releases

March 11, 2010

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Mar. 11, 2010) – Lyn Pruitt, a senior litigation partner for Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C., has been named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL), one of the premier legal associations in America.  Pruitt was inducted at the College’s spring meeting in Palm Springs on March 6.

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.

Pruitt’s practice emphasizes products liability defense, particularly in the area of pharmaceutical drug and device litigation, class action litigation, as well as other mass tort litigation.  She was a member of both national trial teams which successfully tried the first two Bellwether cases in the hormone therapy multi-district litigation.

In addition to ACTL, Pruitt is an active member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), and recently completed her service on its Board of Directors.  She has also served on the IADC Trial Academy faculty, and is a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America.  Pruitt is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the William R. Overton Inn of Court, American Bar Association, and the Defense Research Institute (DRI) where she received a recent appointment by its president to serve on the Public Policy Committee.  Pruitt has also been named to Chambers USA, Best Lawyers In America, Super Lawyers, the International Who’s Who of Product Liability Defense Lawyers, and the Guide to the World’s Leading Product Liability Lawyers.

Pruitt received a juris doctorate with high honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1984, where she was a member of the Law Journal and has since taught Trial Advocacy.  Locally, she is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association and has served as chair of the Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law and as a member of the Tort Law and Civil Procedure Committees. Pruitt joined Mitchell Williams in 1985 after clerking one year for the Arkansas Supreme Court. 

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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