Professor Named Director of National Agricultural Law Center

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Harrison Pittman

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Harrison Pittman is the new director of the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas School of Law.

The National Agricultural Law Center is the nation’s leading source for agricultural and food law research and information. Created by Congress in 1987, the center has led research of legal aspects of biotechnology, farm bill legislation, federal conservation programs and agritourism, among other areas. Today, the center provides a wealth of information on judicial and administrative developments and in-depth analysis of various agricultural and food law issues on its Web site - http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org.

Pittman has an extensive background in agricultural law and has served in multiple capacities at the center since 2001. During the 2006-07 academic year, he served as interim co-director and interim director of the law center but now takes the permanent position of director. As director, Pittman will lead the National Agricultural Law Center’s mission to conduct legal research of the most critical issues facing agriculture and food today - issues such as food-borne illnesses, food labeling and international agricultural trade.  

Pittman earned his juris doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and his master’s degree in agricultural law from the University of Arkansas. Pittman has authored articles on numerous subjects, including the National Organic Program, agricultural bankruptcy issues, corporate farming laws and the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. He is a frequent presenter on various agricultural law and policy topics, including environmental law, the impact of globalization and the World Trade Organization on U.S. agriculture and the interrelationship between local food systems and public health issues.

Pittman is the founder and former chair of the agricultural law section of the Arkansas Bar Association, and he currently serves as vice-chair on the agriculture committee of the American Bar Association’s section on administrative law and regulatory practice. Pittman is an active member of the American Agricultural Law Association, serving on the association’s membership committee and contributing to its monthly newsletter, The AgLaw Update.

Pittman has taught at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law as part of the Ben J. Altheimer Distinguished Professorship for Agricultural Law and as a visiting professor for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences in its department of agricultural economics and agribusiness. Pittman also serves as a faculty adviser to the School of Law’s Journal of Food Law & Policy, the first student-edited legal journal in the country devoted to the study of food law and its impact on society. 

Pittman will carry on the National Agricultural Law Center’s mission to conduct legal research and provide objective, authoritative and scholarly articles to scholars, attorneys, policymakers and others in the agricultural community throughout the United States.