Forty Under 40: Joseph Reece, 39

During his sophomore year at Lamar High School, Joseph Reece remembers telling his father he wanted to be a lawyer, specifically a litigator or a tax attorney.

“I don’t know where a kid growing up on a farm in Ozone, Arkansas, would come up with that,” Reece joked.

But that’s exactly what happened for Reece, who co-founded his own law firm in 2005, starting with three attorneys. Today there are nine attorneys and 16 total employees.
“It’s been a humbling experience but exciting to see the growth,” he says.

Reece holds an accounting degree from the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville — where he currently sits on the board of trustees — as well as law degrees from Mercer University and the University of Miami.

“College was a relatively new thing for my family,” he said. “But my father had some really intentional discussions with me about hard work and about the future.”

After graduating from Miami, Reece joined the firm Ball & Mourton Ltd. PLLC, learning from one of the state’s best legal minds in E.J. Ball.

It was there, too, where Reece met his two founding partners for RMP, Lee Moore and Neal Pendergraft. Together they lead a firm that specializes in offering expertise in tax, transactional, and trust and estate planning.

Reece also sits on the board for Arkansas Athletes Outreach.