During a life full of accomplishment, there are always a few highlights that stand out. For attorney Julie DeWoody Greathouse, managing partner at PPGMR Law in Little Rock, seeing a case to the Supreme Court counts as high on the list.
Greathouse served as lead trial and appellate counsel in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission versus the United States.
“I had the honor of representing AGFC in a decade-long case that took a trip from the Arkansas wildlife management areas to the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted in a unanimous opinion authored by Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” she said.
That is heady stuff, but not for an all-Arkansas legal mind who has received recognition ranging from The Best Lawyers in America for appellate practice, environmental law, litigation-environmental and commercial litigation to multiple selections as Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in environmental law. Those are just some of the accolades; the list is long.
Among those many awards for the attorney, there is one that represents a culmination of a career spent in service to profession and community. The Golden Gavel Award for service in the legal community is recognition Greathouse particularly appreciates.
“Service and leadership performed in our local communities is critical to personal and community success,” she said of the award presented to her by the Arkansas Bar Association in 2020.
When you are a proven professional in the high-octane field of law, people come looking for your participation in their organization, and that visibility has brought Greathouse board involvement in groups ranging from the Arkansas Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights to Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families to the Pulaski Academy board of trustees in Little Rock. Her mantra for board service is straightforward: hard work, excellence and dependability.
“It’s a simple formula,” she said.
Greathouse knows where her roots are, and they are decidedly in the Natural State. She grew up in Hope, hometown of former President Bill Clinton, and started her professional journey through local universities. She earned a Bachelor of Science in political science from Harding University in Searcy, where she graduated magna cum laude, and her juris doctor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law.
“I’m proud to have received my undergraduate and graduate degrees from Arkansas schools,” she said. “They have served me well.”
Then there is day-to-day life in Little Rock. Although the city is not touted as a cultural and professional hub the likes of New York or Los Angeles, it does offer a hometown feel that bigger cities cannot match.
“Little Rock is large enough for business opportunities and small enough to be a close-knit community,” she said. “It’s perfect for me and my family.”
When she has an opportunity to share her experience with young lawyers, Greathouse offers clear-eyed advice on what it is going to take.
“Plan to work hard with purpose and bring excellence to every task,” she said. “A legal career is a marathon and worth every mile.”
With practice areas that extend from anti-trust to natural-resource law and trial practice, the work days are full for an attorney who grew up in a small town and now manages a law firm. That would seem like an improbable step for many people but not for someone who seems to generate drive from the deep orange clay of the Arkansas soil. It is just another day for Greathouse — another day of accomplishment.
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