Passion for Law, Service Steers Madisons Course

Eva Madison and her mother, state Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, have much in common, including love for animals and gardening, and dedication to public service.

The younger Madison, who has long been active in volunteer and civic organizations, is completing her first year as a justice of the peace on the Washington County Quorum Court. Coincidentally, her mom began her political career as a Washington County JP.

Eva Madison, named to the 2005 class of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40, said she’s frequently asked if she’ll follow in her mother’s footsteps and seek a position in the Legislature.

“It’s something I’d definitely say I’m interested in,” she said, “but I think it’s a far-off interest, just because right now I think it would be very hard to juggle my law practice with being in the Legislature, because it’s more of a full-time job than I think people understand.”

Along with maintaining her Fayetteville practice, Madison and her husband are raising their 2-year-old son, Sam.

“I’ve watched how much time my mom spends in Little Rock, and as the mother of a young child, I don’t want to go away and leave him,” she said. “So I think staying local is good.”

A more immediate aspiration would be a judicial seat, she said. If Washington County Circuit Judge Kim Smith should choose to retire in the next few years, Madison said, she’d consider seeking that office.

“Running for judicial office is very attractive to me because it combines my passion for public service with my passion for the law,” she said.

In 2006, Madison left a job as an associate at the Rogers office of Wright Lindsey & Jennings LLP with colleague Scott Summers to open the Northwest Arkansas office of Littler Mendelson PC, a national labor and employment law firm.

She also teaches a course on employment discrimination at the University of Arkansas School of Law, where she’s been an adjunct professor since 2004.

Running for JP wasn’t part of her “grand plan,” Madison said. But some friends suggested it when Steve Zega, who represented her district, chose not to seek re-election.

She’s considering running for a second term, as the deadline to file is in March.

A highlight of her first year in office has been realizing her long-held dream of establishing a county animal shelter.

“They started talking about that last year as I was running for office,” she said. “And then to have it all come together where I was actually on the Quorum Court when we voted to build it, I couldn’t have planned it that way. It just fell into place.”

She’s also enjoyed working on the county’s budget.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s like solving a puzzle in a lot of ways.”

And one of her favorite duties as a JP is performing weddings.

“I had watched my mom 20 years ago do weddings on her front porch,” she said, “and so when they said, ‘Do you want to be a JP who’s on the list to do weddings,’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

She estimates she’s done about 30, from full-blown formal ceremonies to impromptu nuptials in her office.

Madison scaled back some of her volunteer work when she became a JP. She had previously served on the Fayetteville Forward Economic Accountability Council and the city’s Animal Advisory Board.

She also previously volunteered with Legal Aid, and in October, she received an award from the agency for the hours she donated in past years.

From 2002 until 2009, Madison served as president of the Humane Society of the Ozarks. In that capacity, she worked with her mother on drafting Arkansas’ felony animal cruelty law, passed in 2009.

She remains involved with animal welfare as a member of the HSO and on the board of the recently formed Friends of the Washington County Animals. The nonprofit supports the Washington County animal shelter, which recently broke ground.

Her own menagerie currently consists of four cats and a long-haired Jack Russell Terrier.

Madison’s family time includes hiking Fayetteville’s trails and attending Razorback football games.

Since adopting her son, Madison has also become an advocate for adoptive families. She took Sam to Little Rock earlier this year to attend a signing ceremony for a bill that requires leave equity for adoptive parents.

“That’s what happens to me when I become passionate about an issue,” she said. “ I just sort of tackle it.”