Autumn Hamit Patterson named new Arkansas solicitor general

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement announcing Autumn Hamit Patterson as the state’s new Solicitor General:
“I am pleased to announce that Autumn Hamit Patterson has been hired as Arkansas’s next Solicitor General. Autumn comes to us after working with the Office of the Louisiana Attorney General, where she served as a Special Assistant Solicitor General for nearly a year. Her prior experience includes work as a Senior Attorney at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for the American Future; as an Associate at the prestigious Jones Day law firm in Dallas; clerking for Judge Andrew Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Eva Guzman of the Texas Supreme Court; and as a Solicitor General Fellow and Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Texas Attorney General.
“Autumn graduated magna cum laude from the Duke University School of Law and graduated summa cum laude from Furman University with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science.
“I am thrilled that Arkansas is getting such an extraordinary talent as Autumn to be our next Solicitor General. Her vast experience, legal insights, and commitment to the rule of law will serve Arkansans well and adds to an already stellar team we’ve built here at the Office of the Attorney General. The Solicitor General handles many of the most important cases argued by my office, so it is imperative that this position be filled by the very best of the best.”

Patterson added the following statement:
“I am very grateful to Attorney General Griffin for this exciting opportunity and for his leadership in promoting the rule of law. I look forward to working with him to serve the great State of Arkansas.”
The Office of Solicitor General is responsible for handling Arkansas’s appellate and high-profile national litigation, helping shape both state and national jurisprudence. The office represents Arkansas in the United States Supreme Court and is responsible for constitutional, high-profile, and strategic litigation in the federal courts of appeal and the Arkansas Supreme Court. The office also assists with strategic and critical litigation at the trial level and works with other solicitor general offices across the country to coordinate nationwide litigation and amicus strategy. Since the office’s inception a decade ago, the office’s lawyers have successfully argued two cases in the United States Supreme Court and racked up an impressive string of appellate victories in voting rights, First Amendment, administrative, environmental, and criminal cases. The office currently consists of five lawyers and a paralegal. In 2024, the office’s lawyers were awarded the National Association of Attorneys General’s Best Supreme Court Brief Award for their brief in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, 601 U.S. 346 (2024).