Forty Under 40: Todd P. Lewis

When Todd Lewis was a kid, he realized he was good at resolving disputes. That’s what he figured good lawyers did, too, so he set up his career path to eventually practice law.

Lewis, 37, a Fort Smith native, earned his bachelor’s in history from the University of Arkansas in 1993 and went straight into law school at the UA, where he spent three years.

In 1999, he moved back to Fort Smith as a newlywed — his degree and a certificate from the Arkansas Bar Association tucked under his arm — and started with Daily West Core Coffman and Canfield. There his practice was a 50/50 mix of private civil litigation and work for the City of Fort Smith.
He then spent about a year working as in-house counsel for Ozark Marketing, a poultry commodities brokerage in Fayetteville, and then about two years as in-house counsel for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville. At Wal-Mart he primarily handled tort suits and got “a broad sense of litigation issues across the country.”

In 2002, he landed at Conner & Winters as an associate; he made partner in 2004. Lewis’ practice is about 60 percent civil litigation in commercial, construction and bank-related disputes and about 40 percent proactive counseling.

Lewis counts the high number of client referrals he’s received lately as one of his top achievements.