Tuesday morning, Little Rock had its first snow. There didn’t seem to be much on the road, but NPR was urging caution, so I got an early start to Arkadelphia, Ark.. The drive was a safe one and, thankfully, uneventful.
Anyway, I arrived in Arkadelphia in plenty of time for the Sidney S. McMath Pre-Law Conference at Henderson State University, which I was attending as a speaker. 150 students attended the conference which began with lunch. The President of Henderson State, Charles Dunn, attended as well. Dr. John Graves, the chair of the social sciences department, gave the welcome. Phillip McMath spoke about his father, Sid McMath, who is a 1936 School of Law graduate.
The keynote speaker was Deputy Attorney General De Priest whose topic was ”When 
Your Reality Check is Returned for
Insufficient Funds.” Previous keynote speakers for the McMath Lecture have been the Honorable Judge Henry Woods; the Honorable Sidney Sanders McMath, former governor and the namesake of the event; the Honorable W.H. “Dub” Arnold, former Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court; the Honorable Wendell Griffen, Arkansas Court of Appeals; Honorable Ray Thornton, former Associate Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court; and retired member, U.S. House of Representatives and the Honorable Dale Bumpers, a former U.S. Senator.
After the keynote speaker there was a panel, consisting of Aaron Taylor, the assistant dean of the William H. Bowen
School of Law at UALR, Attorney Don Cheney, our alum from Chaney Law Firm in Arkadelphia and me. We were introduced by Ivy Kelly, President of the Henderson State student body. Aaron spoke about the nuts and bolts of law school admissions and gave some very technical and helpful pointers to students. I introduced them to the University of Arkansas School of Law and shared a PowerPoint presentation containing pictures of the new building and slides describing our many programs. Don Cheney talked about practicing law, being a tort lawyer and how he helps plaintiffs who’ve been injured recover so they are able move on with their lives. Afterwards the panel fielded a number of questions from the audience.
An additional pleasure was the opportunity to visit with our alumna Elaine Kneebone, who is currently serving Henderson State as University Counsel. Many thanks to Dr. Larry Monet, the gracious host of the conference, for the invitation to speak as well as his hospitality. We certainly look forward welcoming students from Henderson State to the University of Arkansas law school community!
Nancecy 