W. Jackson Williams

W. Jackson Williams was a founding partner of Williams & Anderson, and is now senior counsel to the firm. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arkansas and a J. D. degree from Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt Mr. Williams was Associate Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review.

In his law practice Mr. Williams has extensive public finance experience in both general obligation and revenue bond issues, having been bond counsel to projects and programs involving public education, higher education, health care, industrial development, single family housing, multi-family housing, water, sewer and electric utility financings, and student loan financings. Mr. Williams has represented state agencies, Arkansas cities and counties, special purpose boards and commissions, hospitals, colleges and universities, local school districts and improvement districts. He has also served as underwriter’s counsel to numerous investment banking firms in their bond underwritings. He continues to maintain an active practice.

He is a member of the American, Arkansas and Pulaski County Bar Associations. Mr. Williams was a member of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Lawyers’ Political Contributions. He served as staff member of the Anthony Commission for Public Finance, headed by then Congressman Beryl Anthony of Arkansas, who was at that time a member of the House, Ways and Means Committee.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BOND LAWYERS (NABL)

• Mr. Williams is a founding member of NABL, having attended its initial meeting in 1975 and has been an active member of NABL ever since.
  
  
• He has served as a panelist on a number of Bond Attorney Workshops.
  
  
• Mr. Williams was one of three NABL representatives which, along with representatives from the American Bar Association, drafted the Registered Public Obligations Act, which has become uniform throughout the country.
  
  
• Mr. Williams served on NABL’s Task Force that considered political contributions and framed the NABL Policy Statement on Political Contributions that was adopted by its Board of Directors.
  
  
• Mr. Williams has served as Chairman of NABL’s Committee on Opinions and Documents.
  
  
• Mr. Williams has served as a member of NABL’s Board of Directors and its Executive Committee.
  
  

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF BOND ATTORNEYS

• Mr. Williams is a founding member of the American College of Bond Attorneys, having attended its initial meetings and serving as a corporate sponsor.
  
  
• He has served as a panelist on a number of bond attorney workshops sponsored by the American College of Bond Attorneys.
  
  
• Mr. Williams has served as a member of the American College of Bond Attorneys’ Board of Directors.
  
  

DIRECTORIES

• Listed in Best Lawyers in America under Project Finance Law, Public Finance Law and Structured Finance Law and in Chambers USA as a “Leader” in the field of Corporate/Commercial: Municipal Bonds
  
  
• Listed in Harper’s USA, American’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Rank 1 for Corporate/Commercial: Municipal Bonds
  
  

LEGISLATION

In addition to his bond practice, Mr. Williams has authored many of the Arkansas statutes dealing with public finance, including the legislation which created the Arkansas Student Loan Authority, the legislation which created the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, and supplemental legislation creating its Bond Guaranty Act, legislation setting forth the procedures for the allocation of the private activity bond cap, the Arkansas Taxable Bond Act and the Arkansas College Savings Bond Act.

Mr. Williams drafted the Arkansas Highway Financing Act of 1999. In Texas, Mr. Williams participated with other bond and securities attorneys in drafting the securitization provisions of the Texas electric deregulation legislation, the Texas Public Utilities Regulatory Act of 1999. Recently Mr. Williams participated in the preparation of the legislation authorizing the securitization by electric utilities of storm restoration costs in Arkansas. Mr. Williams participated in the preparation of the initiated act approved by the voters in the 2000 general election which provided for the distribution of Arkansas’ share of the national tobacco settlement. Williams & Anderson successfully defended the ballot title challenge to Initiated Act One before the Arkansas Supreme Court, in Walker v. Priest, 342 Ark. 110, 29 S.W. 3d 657 (2000).

Recently, Williams & Anderson prepared the ballot title for Amendment 3 of 2008, the Arkansas State Lottery, to support scholarships and grants for Arkansas citizens attending Arkansas institutions of higher learning and successfully defended the ballot title challenge before the Arkansas Supreme Court, in Cox v. Daniels, 374 Ark. 437, 288 S.W.3d 591 (2008).

LOCAL

Mr. Williams has been associated throughout his professional life with a number of civic organizations, including the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, where he served as Vice President, and as a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Williams is a member of Fifty for the Future, a local business development and leadership organization, where he has served as Secretary and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Williams was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Arts Center. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Orchestra Society and the Arkansas Opera Theater. He was the first Chairman of the Arkansas Arts Council and drafted legislation which created that state agency.

Mr. Williams is married to the former Alice Woodford Howell of Little Rock. He is the father of two children, a son, W. J. Williams, III, of the U.S. Foreign Service stationed abroad, and a daughter, Carra Williams Garza, of San Antonio, Texas.

PRACTICE AREAS: Municipal and Corporate Finance, Corporate Law

W. Jackson Williams, Jr.

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University of Arkansas

Vanderbilt University

Arkansas Student Loan Authority

Arkansas Development Finance Authority

National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL)