Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee Members
Judge David Guthrie
DAVID F. GUTHRIE of El Dorado was a Circuit Judge in the 13th Judicial District comprised of six counties in South Arkansas for over 27 years, working primarily in the civil docket. He was raised in Camden, earned a degree in History and Political Science from Hendrix College in 1969 and graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. He clerked for U.S. District Judge Oren Harris in El Dorado and then entered the private practice of law for 19 years. He was appointed to the bench in 1993 and then elected in 1994. Judge Guthrie was commissioned through ROTC while in law school and served in the active Army Reserves, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was activated for 10 months of service and a mid-life adventure in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War 1990 – 1991 where his El Dorado unit received a Meritorious Unit Citation. He has served on a number of committees of the Arkansas Bar Association and the Arkansas Judicial Council of which he was president 2016 – 2017. Judge Guthrie was the recipient of the Outstanding Trial Judge Award, 1998 – 1999, from the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association and was appointed to the Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission in 2017 through 2020 when he retired from the bench. Judge Guthrie has also been active in church and community affairs over the years – First United Methodist Church, Kiwanis Club, Boy Scouts (Silver Beaver Award), United Way, and many activities involving his children. He and his wife Mary are the parents of three children, Adam, Shelby and Mary Hannah and their six children who are grand.
Judge Howard Brill
JUDGE HOWARD BRILL received his B.A. from Duke University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida. He was editor and chief of the University of Florida Law Review, and holds the Order of the Coif. In 1979 he received his L.L.M. from the University of Arkansas. He served in the Peace Corps in Sokoto, Nigeria for two years. He served as a law clerk to Judge Robert T. Mann, District Court of Appeals, Florida, from 1970 through 1971. He began teaching at the University of Arkansas Law School in 1975, and became a full professor in 1982. He currently serves as the Vincent Foster Professor of Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility. He has also published extensively from books, Arkansas and Professional and Judicial Ethics (6th Edition, 2003 M &M Press) to articles such as ‘The Arkansas Code of Judicial Conduct’, 35 Ark. L. Rev. 722-728 (1981). Professor Brill was awarded the Burlington Northern Award for Outstanding Teacher at the University of Arkansas in May, 1993. He was also Outstanding Teacher in 1977, was a Law Faculty nominee for Outstanding Teaching Award at the University of Arkansas in 1987 and 1992, and was awarded the distinguished title of Professor of the Year in 1992, 1991, 1987, and 1980. He was a member of the Governor’s Ethics Task Force 1993-1995, and the Governor’s Code of Ethics Commission 1987 to 1988. As a member of the Arkansas Bar Association, he served in leadership positions on the Civil Procedure Committee, the Professional Ethics and Grievance Committee, Special Committee for the Study of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Arkansas Bar Association Advisory Opinions, and the Joint Committee for the Study of the Model Rules of Judicial Conduct. Other activities and community service include coaching soccer and youth basketball, being a Sunday School teacher and a member of the Rotary Club of Fayetteville. He has served on the Fayetteville Schools Committee, and the Fayetteville Civil Service Commission. Judge Brill was appointed to the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee in 1991, and has served as the Committee’s Chairman since 1992. Judge Brill returned to the JEAC in 2018.
Attorney Judy Simmons Henry
ATTORNEY JUDY SIMMONS HENRY is a partner with the law firm of Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP in Little Rock and Rogers, Arkansas, where she is the immediate past chair of the firm’s Executive Committee and has served on management as Chair of the Business Litigation Team for the last 11 years. She concentrates her practice in the areas of commercial litigation, bankruptcy, class action defense, banking, complex business litigation and general business law. She is also an NFLPA certified contract advisor, representing professional football players in all aspects of their careers. Ms. Henry started her law career as a law clerk to the late Judge James G. Mixon, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas. She is a member of the Debtor-Creditor Bar of Central Arkansas, where she served as president in 1991. She is a member of the American, Arkansas, and Pulaski County Bar Associations. She is a past Chair of the Arkansas Bar Association Business Law Committee and past Chair of the Debtor-Creditor Committee of the Arkansas Bar. Appointed by two Arkansas Attorneys General, she served as an alternate member of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission for 12 years, recently term-limited in service. Since 2000, she has served on the Board of Trustees of Baptist Health, the largest healthcare system in the State of Arkansas. She is a member of its Executive Committee and its Diversification and Compliance Committee. Ms. Henry also serves on the Baptist Health Corporation Board and on the Board of an affiliate entity that owns and operates physician practices, Arkansas Health Group. She has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America for 2005-2015; Outstanding Lawyer in America, 2003-2005; Mid-South Super Lawyers for Business Litigation, 2006-2015, Top 50 Arkansas Lawyer for 2006, 2013 and 2014 and Mid-South Top 50 Women Super Lawyers for 2011, 2013 – 2015; and an outstanding business lawyer in Chambers USA, 2009-2015. Ms. Henry has been recognized as an outstanding presenter for Arkansas’ Best of CLE over a dozen times in her career. Ms. Henry has served as a Special Justice to the Arkansas Supreme Court. In 2013, Ms. Henry was appointed to The National Center of State Courts as the AR lawyer representative to work closely with the Chief Justices of each state and the United States Supreme Court on special court projects. Ms. Henry earned her B.S.E. degree from the University of Central Arkansas and her M.E. and J.D. degrees from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Judy Simmons Henry is the first woman to serve on the Arkansas Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. She replaces Prof. Howard Brill whose three (3) year renewable term ends on June 30, 2017.
