Malvern lawyer hired as clerk of the courts
The Arkansas Supreme Court has hired a new clerk of the courts to replace Stacey Pectol, who served both courts for 21 years before her recent retirement.
On Wednesday, the court announced that Kyle Burton of Malvern would serve as the next clerk.
Burton will oversee all the briefs and motions for every case handled by the state Supreme Court and the Arkansas Court of Appeals and prepare them for the justices and judges. The clerk also serves as the financial officer and disbursing agent for all funds for the high court and the state bar.
Burton also will be charged with maintaining the roll of all attorneys licensed by the Supreme Court.
The Arkansas Supreme Court unanimously selected Burton to replace Pectol, who resigned earlier this year to pursue other endeavors. Burton’s appointment is effective immediately.
Burton will be paid an entry level salary of $108,110. The position is an SE01 graded position on the state’s pay scale.
Pectol ended her employment with the courts effective October 5.
Pectol was hired as a law clerk for former Justice Donald Corbin when he was serving as a Court of Appeals judge and followed him when he was elected to the state Supreme Court. In 1997, Pectol left the court to serve as in-house counsel at Express Human Resources Inc., a Little Rockbased human resources firm, for two years.
According to her resume, Pectol left that job to stay home with her children until she returned to the court in 2008, again serving as Corbin’s law clerk.
Burton is a native of Malvern and graduated from Malvern High School. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law in 2011 and practiced law with an insurance defense law firm, Anderson, Murphy & Hopkins, LLP, for three years before accepting an appellate review attorney position with the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2014.