Dustin McDaniel is a partner in the Little Rock law firm of McDaniel, Richardson & Calhoun, PLLC. McDaniel’s practice focuses on administrative law, regulatory affairs, government relations, business litigation, and criminal law. McDaniel represents individuals and businesses ranging from healthcare to technology, as well as regulated industries such as tobacco and medical cannabis. McDaniel is licensed in the District of Columbia and enjoys a national law practice representing individuals and corporations interacting with America’s state attorneys general. McDaniel served from 2007-2015 as Arkansas’s 55th Attorney General. From 2005-2007, McDaniel served in the Arkansas House of Representatives, serving on the House Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee and as Co-Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Health Insurance and Prescription Drugs.

As Attorney General, McDaniel was the state’s top law enforcement official and the state’s top consumer advocate. As per the Arkansas Constitution, McDaniel and his office represented all state agencies in both administrative proceedings and litigation. Nationally, McDaniel was praised for his leadership work on prescription drug issues, including fraud, abuse, and marketing. He also led the nation’s attorneys general to an historic settlement with the tobacco industry as Co-Chair of the National Association of Attorneys General’s (NAAG) Tobacco Project, which results in $7 billion every year being paid to states. In 2009, McDaniel and his legal team shepherded the implementation of Amendment 87, which established the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, Lottery Commission, statutes and administrative regulations. This experience will be instructive as Arkansas hurriedly implements, regulates, and enforces the provisions of Amendment 98, The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016.

McDaniel has dedicated his life to law enforcement, public service, and the practice of law. After graduating from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a degree in Public Administration, he served as a full-time police officer with the Jonesboro Police Department from 1994-1996. He graduated cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law with his J.D. in 1999 and returned to Jonesboro to practice in the law firm of McDaniel & Wells, P.A. McDaniel currently serves on the National Board of Directors for the University of Arkansas Alumni Association; the Board of Directors for Our House, a homeless shelter in Little Rock; the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Association; and as national Co-Chair of the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus (SAGE), the professional alumni association of all persons who formally served as state attorneys general. McDaniel is currently the youngest former attorney general in the United States. McDaniel is married to Bobbi McDaniel. Their son C.J. Fowler will be attending Yale University in the fall as a freshman. Their daughters Emma Grace McDaniel and Alex Fowler are high school juniors.

Notable:

Recovered more than $10 million for individual consumers through the mediation efforts of his Consumer Protection DivisionEffectively ended the payday-lending industry in Arkansas with more than $7 million awarded through litigation on behalf of consumersCreated the Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Unit to find, capture and prosecute those exploiting and harming children via the InternetSecured the state’s largest-ever settlement with a pharmaceutical company – $18.5 million against Eli LillyCreated the state’s Leads on Labs program, an online tool to help law enforcement fight methamphetamine abuse by tracking Pseudoephedrine purchasesRepresenting large multinational and tech companies including Yelp before state attorneys general across the nation