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"My
ability to serve you is not based on my own strength,
but comes from three sources: Almighty God, who hides
my weaknesses, blesses me beyond merit and guides
my paths; my family, that emboldens me with their
love; and my friends, who remain beside me in spite
of my shortcomings."
Those are the remarks
made by the Arkansas Bar Association's 109th President,
James D. Sprott, at his investiture on June 9, 2006,
at the Association's Annual Meeting in Hot Springs,
Arkansas.
The youngest of five
children, Jim attributes his successes to his family
and friends, which was evidenced by the large showing
of supporters at his presidential swearing-in ceremony.
Rows upon rows of proud faces, including all his siblings,
who traveled from around the country to watch as Chief
Justice James R. Hannah administered the oath of office
and Jim assumed the presidency of the Association.
Like all true leaders,
Jim surrounds himself with good people and is quick
to give them credit and praise. He described his longtime
secretary, legal assistant, and office manager Dana
Snawder as one of the most important people in his
life. "Any success that I have is due in large
part to her dedication to her work," Jim said.
He introduced his new law partner, Cathy Golden, as
someone who will help make it possible for him to
serve as president this year.
Jim's advice to young
lawyers to "listen and learn what others have
done before you, and don't take yourself too seriously"
is advice that he has followed throughout his career.
When Jim was struggling with what direction to take
in college, his grandfather suggested to him in a
letter that "he would make a fine lawyer."
Trusting his grandfather's advice, he started taking
pre-law classes and joined the pre-law club at Hendrix.
Love at First Sight
While at Hendrix Jim
was active in community theater, a passion which serendipitously
lead him to his wife Jan. He auditioned for a summer
job as a character role for the new Dogpatch U.S.A.
theme park based on the Li'l Abner comic strip. Forrest
City native Jan Greene, a student at the University
of Arkansas, also was selected to work on the entertainment
troupe. They first met at the cast orientation during
the summer of 1969 in Marble Falls, Arkansas.
"I don't remember
much about clothes, but I remember what Jan was wearing
that day," Jim said.
"It was navy shorts
with a navy sweater trimmed in gold, with a gold belt,"
Jan added.
"All I could see
was her eyes, hair, and blue and yellow," Jim
said.
Jim played the role
of Earthquake McGoon, "the world's dirtiest wrassler,"
and Luke Scraggs, one of the "low-life thugs"
of the streets of Dogpatch. Jan started out playing
Daisy Mae Yokum, "the crown princess of Dogpatch,"
and Tasmania. They both worked there for two summers,
the second of which Jan became the first full-season
Daisy Mae and Jim became the assistant troupe manager.
"When Jim became
boss, I thought 'Boy, I'm really going to go places
if I stay with him,'" Jan jokingly said. "And
we ended up 12 miles down the road in Harrison, with
a few stops in between."
Jan's parents owned
a motel near Dogpatch in Lead Hill. During that second
summer, Jan's mother offered Jim a deal that he couldn't
refuse-if he drove Jan to and from work everyday,
he could have free meals and room and board in the
utility room of the hotel.
"Jan's mother quickly
recognized how much I enjoyed eating," Jim said.
"It was like being in heaven because she was
the best cook there ever was."
"And I had a car
wreck on the way to work," Jan added, which is
why Ma Greene was so eager to have a driver for her
daughter. "She would wake him up each morning
by grabbing his big toe," Jan said. "She
laughed about that until the day she died."
After the second summer,
Jim went to law school at Southern Methodist University
in Dallas and Jan went back to college in Fayetteville.
After a heart-wrenching year apart, they married in
June of 1971, and Jim said his last two years of law
school went much more smoothly than the first.
"Kind, caring,
sincere, fun, family man, good friend," Jan described
Jim. "And not always right," she added,
which he said is why he keeps her close by his side
to keep him straight.
All
Things Work Together for the Good
After law school, when
he and Jan were considering where to go next, he heeded
the advice of a mentor. "A very smart man told
me that you need to decide where you want to be, and
then go there and find a way to make it work."
They decided where they
wanted to be was in Arkansas with their families.
So in 1973, they made their way to Brinkley where
Jim began his legal career under the wings of James
B. Sharp. The following year, Jim took on a supplemental
job as the deputy prosecutor for Monroe County, where
he gained valuable experience trying cases. In 1975,
he assumed the position of Brinkley's municipal judge,
which he held until he moved to Harrison in 1986.
Jim continued to practice with Sharp until 1982. At
that point, Jim entered the race for chancery judge
and started his own law practice. Chancery Judge Ben
Story defeated Jim in the election. Jim said that
at the time "it was a hard pill to take,"
but turned out to be the best thing for him and his
family since it freed them to make the move to Harrison
four years later.
"We have both been
raised in Christian homes and believe in the Bible
and Romans 8:28-that all things work together for
the good," Jim said.
For the past 20 years,
Jan and Jim have lived in the same house located in
one of the oldest neighborhoods in Harrison where
they raised their three children. Their son, Daniel
(28), is their oldest child and works with Jim at
his law office as a legal assistant and process server.
Their oldest daughter Sarah (27), works as a pharmaceutical
sales representative in Jonesboro and is married to
Ryan Heringer. Emily (23), their youngest daughter,
just finished her first year of law school at the
University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Jim's 92-year-old
parents, Joseph and Virginia, live close at hand on
their farm in Marble, Arkansas. Joseph Sprott is a
retired cattle farmer and a former mayor of Huntsville.
Today, most of Jim's
practice involves representing Community First Bank,
a bank that he helped found in 1997-an experience
that he said has been one of the most interesting
experiences that he has had outside of the practice
of law. The bank now has five locations and over 100
employees, with the main bank located just off of
the town square in Harrison. The name of the bank
represents the whole concept of the bank-"It's
all about community." Each location is locally
controlled and operated and plays a large role in
the community.
Jim's passion for his
community does not stop at his involvement in the
bank. He has served on the Board of Trustees of North
Arkansas Community College since 1996 and served as
chair from 1999-2001. He has served on the Board of
Directors of the Harrison Chamber of Commerce and
Main Street Harrison. Jim has also served as president
of many local organizations including the Brinkley
Rotary Club, Harrison Rotary Club, Brinkley Chamber
of Commerce, and Harrison Chamber of Commerce. In
addition, he has served as chair of the Brinkley Hospital
Commission and the Coca Cola Airshow of the Ozarks
and on the Board of Directors of the North Arkansas
Partnership for Health Education.
"I love being a
lawyer," Jim said. "Sometimes the most meaningful
things that happen to you are the smallest cases."
Jim and Jan both agreed
that his most important case was an adoption case
where Jan handed a baby to a new mother on Mother's
Day. "It was so neat," Jan said. "I
think they think of us to this day as their stork."
"My
Only Purpose-to Serve My Profession"
"Jim has always
aspired to be president of the Arkansas Bar Association,"
Jan said. "It has been engrained in him since
he was 23-years old."
The first year Jim started
working with James B. Sharp, Sharp was the president-elect
of the Association. As his career developed over the
years, Jim knew that he wanted to lead this Association
in its top elected office one day. He recalled asking
Murray Claycomb why he was running for president of
the Association several years ago. "He said he
was doing it to serve his profession. I hope I can
follow in that kind of footstep. That is my only purpose-to
serve my profession."
Jim has been actively
involved in both the Arkansas Bar Association and
the Arkansas Bar Foundation for many years. He is
a member of the Association's Board of Governors and
served as its chair in 2002. He also has served in
the House of Delegates and on the Executive Council.
A sustaining fellow of the Arkansas Bar Foundation
and former member of its Board of Directors, he also
is a past president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer
of the Foundation.
Jim's other professional
credentials are just as impressive. He is a member
of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association, the American
Bar Association, and the Boone/Newton County Bar Association,
where he served many years as secretary-treasurer.
He has previously served as a Special Chief Justice
to the Arkansas Supreme Court. He is a past member
of the Arkansas Municipal Judges Council and served
as its secretary.
Because Jim has been
a solo practitioner from a small town the majority
of his career, he wants to emphasize the value of
the Association to lawyers like himself. "The
Association provides a place to network with other
lawyers, which is extremely important for those of
us in solo or small practices that don't have others
around to talk to or listen to about other cases,
legal matters, and trends in technology," he
said. "That networking is a tremendous opportunity
for lawyers to be better for their clients' sakes,
which is the whole goal of the profession-to be better
for our clients' sakes."
In addition to leading
the Association into a new Bar Center this year, Jim
plans to focus his efforts on diversity in the legal
profession and how the Association can improve this
area. "Diversity needs to be a focus. I don't
have solutions, but we have to be forthright and open
and not necessarily worry about political correctness.
We must be able to look at the issues and resolve
them. I am really excited to work with Troy Price
and Jim Crouch of the Arkansas Bar Commission on Diversity."
Renovations to the new
Bar Center are expected to be complete at the end
of 2006. "I am delighted that in my year we will
complete that job and have an excellent top of the
line, cutting edge, and technologically-equipped bar
center for the benefit of lawyers from all over the
state," he said. "And part of our job is
to emphasize how important it is to lawyers in the
smaller towns of the state."
Like Immediate Past-President
Glenn Vasser, Jim is also concerned about the recognition
of the importance of the country's governmental structure
and the division of the three branches of government.
He said the Association's Law Related Education Committee
established by the Board of Governors is a step in
the right direction. "I think that it is important
for us to reach out to the public educationally,"
he said. "The other benefit is that it will help
the image of lawyers if people understand what it
is you are standing for, so it's a real winning thing
we can work on."
Jim plans on traveling
around the state on Bar Association business in his
Cessna airplane. A pilot for 28 years, it is a passion
that he attributes to his oldest brother Dave. Growing
up in the desert of California, he watched as Dave,
then a pilot in the Marine Corps and now a retired
colonel, would fly a jet fighter over the family's
cattle farm, sometimes 10 feet from the ground. "He
was my hero, along with my other siblings," he
said.
After patiently waiting
in line for years to get a hangar for his plane at
the Harrison airport, Jim finally succeeded this year
by obtaining a hangar he can call his own. Likewise,
after years of quiet determination and hard work,
Jim now has the opportunity to lead this Association
through an exciting new Bar year by "completing
the work already identified, establishing new goals,
and dreaming of paths for the future."
"And so,
my name is Sprott. I have but one goal: to serve you.
Call me. Write me. Text me. Let me know how I can
help you. Thank you again for this honor; I pledge
to you my very best," Jim remarked as
he concluded his acceptance speech.•
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