Jerry L. Lovelace

Jim Smith is a founding partner of Smith Hurst, PLC. Jim’s practice experience is extensive and spans the full range of business advisory and transactional law. He routinely counsels companies across diverse industries in a myriad of business matters including capital raising, advising Boards of Directors, senior management, executives and controlling shareholders regarding governance and fiduciary duty matters, compliance with regulatory obligations, ordinary course of business contrac...

Scott M. Lar maintains a transactional and taxation practice, which primarily focuses on mergers and acquisitions, taxation and tax planning, federal and state tax audits, tax litigation, corporate governance, and estate planning. Mr. Lar represents clients in reorganizations as well as equity and asset acquisitions; tax deferred exchanges; qualified opportunity zone tax incentive program; federal income and transfer tax audits as well as state income and sales and use tax audits. He has also...

Emily Runyon is a litigation and trial attorney who defends insurance carriers, corporations and health care institutions in personal injury, wrongful death, medical malpractice and bad faith lawsuits. Combining her years of experience as a litigator with her previous experience as an Arkansas Supreme Court clerk, Emily provides her clients with comprehensive counsel in litigation and insurance coverage matters. From the onset of any matter, Emily strives to understand her clients’ busi...

Rebecca Hurst is a founding partner and the Managing Partner of Smith Hurst, PLC. Originally focusing her legal practice on estate planning and philanthropic endeavors of high net worth individuals and families who have amassed their wealth from family business activities, over the past decade Ms. Hurst’s practice has naturally evolved to not only represent her clients in their estate planning and philanthropic endeavors but also in their business, corporate and real estate activities. ...

Cal Rose is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mergers and Acquisitions Law and Tax Law. Cal, who practices law in Rogers, Arkansas, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Cal is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Brandon Cate i s a litigation attorney based in the firm’s Northwest Arkansas office. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, including litigation involving ERISA, employment law, insurance coverage, real estate disputes, mortgage servicing, media law, and class action defense. Some of Mr. Cate’s no table successes include securing a declaratory judgment for landowners in a 27-acre adverse possession dispute near Harrison and securing a trial victory for Fayetteville homeow...

Dana Paul concentrates her practice in commercial real estate and project development, finance and banking, and general business and corporate transactions. Ms. Paul's real estate and project development experience extends to the acquisition, disposition, leasing, construction, financing, development, operation and management of retail properties, office buildings and medical complexes, commercial developments, mixed-use and residential projects, condominiums, industrial developments, warehou...

Craig Cockrell advises businesses, individuals, municipalities and state agencies on tax matters and business transactions including business formations and start-ups, stock and asset acquisitions, real estate transactions and public financing transactions. He also assists individuals and families with preparing and implementing estate and business succession plans and provides legal counsel on wealth transfer strategies. Having extensive experience in administrative tax proceedings, Craig al...

I did not always know that I wanted to become an attorney. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in psychology, I was still searching for a meaningful career path. I decided to take time to explore my interests and moved to New York for a year. While there, I observed a law school class with a friend, an experience that sparked my interest in the law. That moment led me to prepare for the LSAT and ultimately enroll at Touro Law School. Law school proved to be a transf...

Eric Berger is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation. Eric, who practices law in Rogers, Arkansas, has been recognized since 2020. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Eric is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.