June 17, 2021
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C. Attorneys Sherry Bartley, Stuart Spencer, Anton Janik and Rick Beard have been recognized for outstanding service by the Arkansas Bar Association.
Bartley was awarded the 2021 C.E. Ransick Award of Excellence, a joint award of the Arkansas Bar Foundation and the Arkansas Bar Association for extraordinary service to the legal profession. For more than three decades, Bartley has served the legal profession as a distinguished attorney, counselor, mentor and leader. She has demonstrated her dedication and commitment to the legal profession in Arkansas through her abundance of volunteer service to legal organizations, legal education and Arkansans in need of legal service. Bartley has been a consistent supporter of legal aid in Arkansas. She has been actively engaged in service to the Arkansas Bar Foundation and the Arkansas State Board of Bar Examiners. She served as Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at the University of Arkansas William H. Bowen School of Law and also served as an instructor at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and Arkansas Advocacy Institute. Bartley has also served in numerous leadership roles in legal professional organizations.
Spencer received the CLE Award for valued contributions to the Arkansas Bar Association’s continuing legal education program. Spencer served as Co-Chair of the Environmental Section of the Arkansas Bar Association and Co-Chair of the Arkansas Environmental Federation, Air Section.
Janik earned the Golden Gavel Award for his service as Chair of The Arkansas Lawyer magazine. Janik serves as Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Arkansas Bar Association publication The Arkansas Lawyer. He is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association Board of Trustees and serves on the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Law Review.
Beard was recognized for having been admitted to the practice of law in Arkansas for 50 years. He has extensive experience as a trial attorney representing insurance companies and self-insured corporations in all phases of civil litigation, including defense of medical malpractice claims, personal injury claims, products liability claims and legal malpractice. Beard is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Academy of Trial Counsel.
About the Arkansas Bar Association
The Arkansas Bar Association advances the Administration of Justice. It fosters and maintains on the part of attorneys high ideals of integrity, learning, competence and public service and high standards of conduct. The Arkansas Bar Association encourages the legal profession and its individual members to perform more effectively and efficiently their responsibilities in the public interest. It conducts a program of continuing legal education for attorneys and provides a forum for the discussion of subjects pertaining to the practice of law. It also improves the judicial and legal process and advances law and order.
About Mitchell Williams
Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C. is a full-service corporate law firm that provides strategic, comprehensive legal services to help clients achieve their goals. Established in 1954, the firm has offices in Little Rock, Rogers and Jonesboro, Arkansas and Austin, Texas. For more information, visit MitchellWilliamsLaw.com.