John S. Bryant
425 W. Capitol Ave.
Suite 3400
Little Rock, AR 72201-3472
Phone: 501.375.1122
Fax: 501.375.1027
Direct Dial: 501.707.5521
Click here to email John
Current Position and Duties within the Firm: Senior Associate; Law Clerk Supervisor; Associate Attorney Mentor; Author and Senior Associate Editor: Arkansas Employment Law Newsletter; Author and Editor of Arkansas Court of Appeals Case Summaries in the Daily Record
Admissions: 2001, Arkansas, U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas and U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
Practice Areas: Commercial Transactions; Public Finance; Municipal Bond Law; Governmental Leasing Transactions; Securities Law; and Corporate Law.
Legal Associations/Professional Memberships: Arkansas Bar Association, American Bar Association, and National Association of Bond Lawyers.
Education: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, B.S., magna cum laude, 1998 and University of Arkansas, Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, J.D., high honors, 2001.
Accomplishments/Awards: Assistant Editor, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review; Recipient: Harper and Mary Boyer Harb Scholarship, Judge Oren Harris Scholarship, Wright, Lindsey & Jennings Scholarship; Nine Top Papers including Legal Writing I and II, Legal Research I, Property II, Torts II, Criminal Law, Family Law, White Collar Crime, and Administrative Law; Ranked 2nd in class of 139 in 2001 UALR Bowen School of Law graduating class; and Recipient of M. Lee Smith Publishers’ HRhero.com “Title of the Year” Award for title written for the Arkansas Employment Law Newsletter, “’Roid Rage.”
Club or Civic Memberships/ Community Involvement: Adjunct Professor - University of Arkansas, Little Rock, William H.Bowen School of Law Lawyering skills I, Transaction Practices; Board member and volunteer general counsel for Cobblestone Property Owners’ Association; Volunteer Moot Court Coach, Spring 2007; Member, Administrative Board – Carlisle First United Methodist Church, 2004.
Biography:
Mr. Bryant was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1976 but moved shortly thereafter to Carlisle, Arkansas, where he attended Carlisle Public Schools from kindergarten through his graduation in 1994. Upon graduation, Mr. Bryant enrolled in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Mr. Bryant graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Business in 1998. Upon receiving his degree, Mr. Bryant was accepted into the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law.
Mr. Bryant excelled in law school, graduating second in his graduating class of 139 students with an overall GPA of 3.74. Mr. Bryant was one of only three students in his class selected to join the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, Law Review after his first year. Mr. Bryant served on the Law Review his second and third years of law school. During his time with the Law Review, Mr. Bryant served as Assistant Casenote Editor. In addition, during his law school career, Mr. Bryant earned top papers in nine classes.
Mr. Bryant’s earliest employment began in elementary school and continued through college as Mr. Bryant worked on his parents’ beef cattle farm in Carlisle, Arkansas. The job duties involved with this work ranged from operating large farm equipment in the process of feeding the cattle to administering injections and other medical treatments to the animals. After college, Mr. Bryant began his legal career and his affiliation with Jack, Lyon & Jones, P.A., now Jack Nelson Jones Fink Jiles & Gregory, P.A., as a law clerk during the summer of 1999. Mr. Bryant clerked for the firm in the summers during 1999 and 2000, as well as during the academic year 2000-2001. It was during his time as a law clerk that Mr. Bryant assumed a leadership position in drafting and editing the Arkansas Employment Law Letter. Also during this time, Mr. Bryant began his involvement with various public finance transactions, which would eventually become the focus of his legal career.
Mr. Bryant became an associate with the firm in 2001 and has undertaken projects spanning a wide array of commercial issues, from bankruptcy and real estate issues to complex commercial financing transactions involving a wide array of borrowers and lenders. Currently, the main focus of Mr. Bryant’s practice is public finance transactions and similar private finance transactions. Mr. Bryant has served in the capacity of bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, lessor’s counsel and lender’s counsel in numerous transactions with a large number of various governmental and private entities. In addition, Mr. Bryant undertakes various corporate and securities related projects, including the formation and operation of corporations and LLCs.
Mr. Bryant’s outside hobbies and interests include gardening, golf, exercising, grilling, following sports (especially Arkansas Razorback athletics) and spending time with his family.
Mr. Bryant is married to Sheila Bryant. They have no children but are raising their Siberian Husky, Rocky.