M. Gayle "Gayle" Corley

David C. Jung is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants. David C., who practices law in Little Rock, Arkansas, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which David C. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Drake Mann is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Administrative / Regulatory Law and Appellate Practice. Drake, who practices law in Little Rock, Arkansas, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Drake is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Ashley Gill focuses her practice primarily on estate planning and administration, taxation, commercial transactions and corporate law. She regularly counsels clients on various wealth transfer strategies, including income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax, asset protection, business succession, and charitable planning to structure plans that both minimize estate shrinkage and maximize the achievement of non-tax goals. Ashley also provides general business and tax advice to bo...

Meg Johnston is a business and regulatory attorney with years of experience advising clients in regulatory, compliance, licensing, commercial and corporate business matters. She represents banks, bank holding companies, insurance and insurance holding companies, Fortune 500 companies and medium and small businesses in mergers and acquisitions, commercial and agricultural loans and commercial, corporate and real estate transactions. Meg also counsels agriculture landowners is leasing matters w...

Mike Shannon has over 30 years of experience in complex commercial litigation, with a practice that includes eminent domain, class action defense, products liability, e-discovery, toxic torts, medical malpractice defense, bid protests, and issues affecting the outdoor advertising industry. He has represented a broad range of clients—from multinational manufacturers and financial institutions to closely held businesses and high-net-worth individuals—across various matters, includin...

Chuck Dougherty's practice is focused on intellectual property and technology issues. He prepares and prosecutes patent applications, federal and state trademark registration applications and copyright registration applications. For those clients with international portfolios, he oversees and coordinates foreign filings with local counsel in appropriate jurisdictions. He also assists clients with licensing and other issues related to the protection of their intellectual property. In addition,...

Brian C. Smith practices in the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group. His practice includes experience in the design, implementation and administration of tax-qualified retirement plans including defined benefit pension plans, profit-sharing plans, 401(k) plans and ESOPs. He also works with nonqualified deferred compensation plans and health and welfare plans for financial institutions, regular business organizations, professional corporations and governmen...

Donald H. Bacon is a member of Friday, Eldredge & Clark’s Management Committee and a partner in both the Litigation Practice Group and Medical Malpractice Practice Group. While he has represented a diverse set of clients in a variety of litigation, most recently, his focus has been in the area of professional liability representing lawyers, doctors, accountants and insurance agents. In addition to representing them in court, he has represented lawyers before the Office of Profession...

George Ernst is a Partner in our Little Rock office whose practice specializes in immigration, international business, and labor and employment matters. Also proficient in German, he has over a decade of experience representing multi-national corporations across various industries. His practice focuses on advising clients in highly complex matters relating to the employment of foreign nationals under the EB-5 program for international investors, EB-1 and EB-2 visas for employment-based immigr...

Laura H. Smith is a partner in the firm and a member of the Medical Malpractice Practice Group and her particular emphasis is on defending catastrophic injury cases. Laura’s clients benefit from her experience in defending these cases as lead counsel in more than 80 jury trials for more than 30 years. Because of her track record, she is often called upon to serve as regional counsel in major litigation.