Forty Under 40: Chris Woodard

Chris Woodard is an entrepreneurial-type who happens to have a law degree.

As the co-founder of a transactional law practice with his wife Jenna, Woodard is licensed to practice law in Arkansas and Texas. He assists clients in business law, civil litigation and contract law matters.

Over the past two years, reflective of its place in downtown Bentonville, Woodard has tailored his practice to real estate, handling legal work for various developments. He’s also personally involved in a handful of real estate projects.

“We want to leave the area in better shape than we found it, and we found it in a pretty dang good place,” he said.

A Jonesboro native, Woodard graduated from Arkansas State University in 2008 with a marketing degree. He also lettered four years for the golf team.

He earned a law degree in 2011 from the University of Arkansas School of Law, where he was a Board of Advocates member.

After working in Dallas and Jonesboro, Woodard returned to Northwest Arkansas in 2014 to practice for the Slinkard Law Group in Rogers. He hung his shingle in July 2016.

Separate from the law firm, Woodard founded a company called Wills@Work, a tech-inspired business offering efficient, cloud-based access to estate planning. It’s less than two years old. The company goes directly to employers to agree to provide the Wills@Work service as an employee benefit. Woodard’s growth strategy includes opening the service up to individuals.

“We want to be [considered] Amazon for estate planning,” he said.

Woodard is a past president of The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas board of directors and a former chairman of the Red Wolves Foundation at Arkansas State.