Forty Under 40: John M. Scott
by January 1, 2008 12:00 am 132 views
John Scott, 38, said being willing to communicate openly with clients and to take the occasional tough phone call are his best tips to success for young lawyers.
The advice Scott offers to others has served him well. The firm he co-founded in 2003 has grown an average of 20 percent per year and it opened a Little Rock satellite office in 2007.
But Scott’s success is due to much more than fielding difficult phone calls; it’s mostly due to good old-fashioned rolled up sleeves and hard work.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Baylor University, he practiced with KPMG in San Diego for a few years before returning to law school.
He maintains an inactive CPA’s license.
Scott finished third in his class at the Unviersity of Arkansas-Little Rock in 1997 and then clerked for G. Thomas Eisele, senior U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas, for a couple of years, which was “an intense baptism in to federal litigation.”
In 1999, he landed a job with the Everett Law Firm in Fayettevile. He was handed 40 active cases, which he worked on for about a year straight, he said.
Scott’s biggest achievement to date is being a partner at his own firm. The firm employs seven lawyers, but Scott would like to see it grow to 10 in the next few years.