Setting the bar
Hall of Fame honors those who made a difference
The inaugural class of the Arkansas Bar Association Legal Hall of Fame was called to order on Sept. 15, in the Great Hall in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.
Gov. Asa and first lady Susan Hutchinson welcomed lawyers and their families. Colette Honorable was the emcee for the evening. Former President Bill Clinton recorded a video congratulating the honorees. Brian Rosenthal, past president of the Arkansas Bar Association and a member of Legal Hall of Fame’s presenting sponsor, Rose Law Firm, was on hand, as was Joe Kolb, the 2022-23 Bar Association president.
Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and former Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Annabelle Tuck were welcomed into the Great Hall before they were presented as part of the inaugural class. Philip Anderson was also honored, although he could not attend the event. Judge Richard S. Arnold, Scipio Africanus Jones and Gov. Sidney McMath were inducted posthumously. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine students who integrated Little Rock Central High in 1957, was in attendance to accept the recognition of the Little Rock Nine as a group.
The Nine were added to the Legal Hall of Fame based on their testing of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kan. Sybil Jordan Hampton, who was part of a second group of Black students who followed the Nine in their integration efforts, was also at the event.
The Legal Hall of Fame was created to recognize a diverse group of people who have made “an extraordinary contribution to the law, society, the administration of justice and legal education.”