Law Firm Opens Fayetteville Office

Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson, a Tulsa, Okla.-based law firm, has opened a Fayetteville office. William E. Bishop, James L. Harris and T. Craig Jones, the three lawyers staffing the office, are all former members of the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock and are shareholders in their new firm.

Hall, Estill’s roots date to 1929 and since the 1980s has been one of Oklahoma’s largest law firms. The firm also has offices in Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C., and has about 80 lawyers practicing.

Bishop will continue his practice in the areas of taxation, employee benefits, estate planning, probate and corporate law. Bishop earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas in 1970, his juris doctorate from Vanderbilt University in 1973 and a master of law degree from New York University in 1974. He is a member of the Arkansas and Texas bar associations as well as the American Bar Association and has been certified as a Board Recognized Tax Specialist by the Arkansas Board of Legal Specialization.

Harris will continue his practice in the areas of taxation, employee benefits, estate planning and probate law. He graduated with high honors from the University of Arkansas in 1985 and from the UA School of Law in 1988. While in law school, he was a member of the Arkansas Law Review and received the Craig Sterne Award for Outstanding Achievement in Taxation and Estate Planning. In 1989, Harris earned a master’s of law degree, with honors, from the University of Florida, where he was named the James J. Freeland Tax Scholar. A certified public accountant, Harris is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Arkansas State Society of Certified Public Accountants as well as the American and Arkansas bar associations.

Jones practices general corporate law with an emphasis on the formation, financing and general representation of various forms of business entities; on acquisitions and dispositions of businesses and assets; and on all aspects of contract drafting, analysis and negotiation. Jones served as vice president, general counsel and secretary of Earth Science Laboratories Inc., a closely held chemical manufacturer based in Northwest Arkansas. He practiced general corporate law at the Rose Law Firm from August 1988 until October 1994. Jones received his juris doctorate degree with honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville, where he was managing editor of the Arkansas Law Review in 1987-88. He earned a degree in May 1985 from Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and a degree in May 1984 from Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom, Howard Payne University’s multidisciplinary honors program.