Philip S. Anderson

Philip S. Anderson was a founding partner of Williams & Anderson and is now senior counsel to the firm. He received his B.A. and LL.B. degrees from the University of Arkansas. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the ARKANSAS LAW REVIEW. Mr. Anderson has broad experience in trial and appellate practice as well as in acquisitions, mergers and general corporate matters. He was president of the American Bar Association in 1998-1999. He continues to maintain an active practice.

Among the firm’s clients, Mr. Anderson represents the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a newspaper of statewide circulation. He also serves on the board of directors of the newspaper and its parent company. He represents media clients on First Amendment issues, including access and defamation. He was lead counsel for ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC in access litigation arising out of the Whitewater trials in Arkansas. United States of America v. McDougal, 940 F. Supp. 224, 24 Media L. Rep. 1917, (1996); United States v. McDougal, 103 F.3d 651, 25 Media L. Rep. 1097, (1996); In re Grand Jury Subpoena of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., 947 F. Supp., 1314 (1996). He has represented The New York Times, the Associated Press and HBO on media issues arising in Arkansas. He was lead counsel in trying two landmark newspaper antitrust cases to successful conclusions. Community Publishers, Inc. v. Donrey Corp., 892 F. Supp. 1146, affirmed, Community Publishers, Inc. v. DR Partners, 139 F.3d 1180 (8th Cir. 1998); Arkansas Gazette Company v. Camden News Publishing Company, U.S.D.C. No. LR-C-84-1020 (E.D. Ark. 1986). In one of the cases he represented the defendants and in the other he represented the plaintiffs.

He was lead appellate counsel in the appeal of the largest personal-injury verdict in the history of the state, which resulted in a substantial remittitur of the award, Advocat, Inc. v. Sauer, 353 Ark. 29, 111 S.W.3d 346 (2003), and in the appeal of a judgment in the amount of $8.2 million against a bank on a lender-liability claim, which resulted in the reversal of the judgment and the dismissal of the claim, First Commercial Bank v. Walker, 333 Ark. 100, 969 S.W. 2nd 146 (1998).

Mr. Anderson was lead counsel for Worthen Bank & Trust Company in an antitrust case that revolutionized the bank card industry in the United States. Worthen Bank & Trust Company v. National BankAmericard Incorporated, 485 F.2d 119, (8th Cir. 1973). He defends corporate directors and officers in litigation relating to corporate governance and securities issues. He was lead counsel in the successful defense of former directors of four savings and loan associations in Arkansas in separate lawsuits brought by the Resolution Trust Corporation and its predecessors. See, e.g., Resolution Trust Corporation v. Armbruster, 52 F.3d 748 (8th Cir. 1995).

In addition to trying cases in federal and state courts throughout Arkansas, he regularly appears before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Arkansas Supreme Court.

For several years, Mr. Anderson was outside general counsel for the largest bank holding company in Arkansas at the time, and he represented the client in the acquisition of banks throughout the state. He continues to represent clients in major acquisitions and mergers. In 2008, he represented WEHCO Newspapers, Inc., in the acquisition of three newspapers in central Missouri, including the News Tribune, the daily newspaper in Jefferson City, the state capital. In 1998 and 1999, he represented the same client in the acquisition of the Chattanooga Free Press and The Chattanooga Times, which papers were merged into the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 1999.

Mr. Anderson's service to the American Bar Association, in addition to his term as president, includes two terms on the Association’s Board of Governors and more than thirty years in its House of Delegates, in which he continues to serve. He was Chair of the House of Delegates in 1992-1994. He served for thirty-five years on the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions. He was appointed by President Carter to the United States Circuit Judge Nominating Commission, Panel for the Eighth Circuit in 1978 and 1979. He has served as a member and co-chair of the Federal Advisory Committee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is a member of the American Law Institute, which promulgates the Restatements of the Law, and its governing Council. He served as an adviser in the preparation of the RESTATEMENT OF THE LAW GOVERNING LAWYERS and the RESTATEMENT OF TRUSTS-PRUDENT INVESTOR RULE. Mr. Anderson is listed in Best Lawyers in America under Antitrust Law, Appellate Law, Corporate Law, First Amendment Law and in Commercial Litigation; in Chambers USA as a “Leader” in the field of General Commercial Litigation; and in Mid-South Super Lawyers in the areas of Business Litigation, First Amendment/Media/Advertising Law and Business/Corporate Law.

In 1999, Mr. Anderson received awards for his advocacy for detained immigrants from the American Immigration Law Foundation, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project in Boston.

In local civic matters, Mr. Anderson has served as president of Friends of the Little Rock Public Library, Little Rock Unlimited Progress, the Board of Trustees of the Central Arkansas Library System and the Board of Trustees of the George W. Donaghey Foundation, a charitable trust of which he remains a trustee. He is a member of the parish of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, where he has served two terms on the vestry.

Mr. Anderson is a gardener and a book collector. He is married to the former Rosemary Wright, who is universally known as Missy. They have three children and five grandchildren.

PRACTICE AREAS: Business Litigation, Media Law, Corporate Law

Philip S. Anderson

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American Bar Association

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

The American Law Institute

Central Arkansas Library System