A public relations firm distributed a news release today that said Attorney General Dustin McDaniel would be starting a Little Rock-based law firm with two office assistants when he leaves office in January.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Richardson and Assistant Attorney General Bart Calhoun will also be partners in the law firm – McDaniel, Richardson & Calhoun, PLLC. They plan to have offices as well in McDaniels’ former hometown of Jonesboro and Washington, D.C.
The firm will do business law, commercial litigation, regulatory compliance, bankruptcy and public policy advocacy as well as education and agriculture law. It will also practice personal injury and family law. Said the release:
The law firm is uniquely qualified to provide counsel to businesses in dealings with Attorneys General throughout the United States.
McDaniel, 42, is also quoted as saying he believes his relative youth “gives him an advantage in the digital age where legal issues such as privacy and data breaches will be potentially devastating for unprepared clients.”
Richardson’s notable work includes education matters — the Little Rock desegregation case and school funding. Calhoun focused on consumer protection.
McDaniel was going to run for governor this year but involvement with a Hot Springs lawyer forced into the open in a legal pleading prompted him to quit the race. It was a lucky break. A Republican tide produced victories for every Republican on the statewide ballot. Hard to see how McDaniel could have done much better than Mike Ross in the race with Asa Hutchinson.