Classroom to be Named for Law Grad

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Arkansas School of Law will designate of one of its main classrooms as the Robert C. Compton Classroom." The classroom is named in honor of renowned El Dorado lawyer Bob Compton and will be formally dedicated at a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. on May 14.

In conjunction with the naming, Compton's family and friends contributed $100,000 to support the law school's major building expansion project. This is the third major gift toward the project announced in the past two months.

Richard Atkinson, dean of the School of Law, said: "I have the greatest admiration and affection for Bob. Several of these large existing classrooms are going to be named for particularly prominent lawyers. Bob Compton more than fits the bill. When my spirits need a lift, I often turn to one or more of the Bob Compton stories I have collected over the years. A legend both in and out of the courtroom, he is one of the giants of the Arkansas Bar."

After graduating from Hendrix College in 1949, Robert C. Compton attended the University of Arkansas School of Law and graduated in 1952. While in law school, he was a member of the Law Review.

Following graduation from Law School, he served two years as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation before commencing the general practice of law in El Dorado in 1954, first with the late Walter L. Brown, then with Brown, Compton & Prewett and, since 1982, with Compton, Prewett, Thomas & Hickey.

He has served as president of the Union County Bar Association, the 13th Judicial District Bar Association and the Arkansas Bar Association. He was the recipient of the Arkansas Bar Association's Arkansas Bar Foundation Outstanding Lawyer Award for the years 1987-88.

Since 1978, he has frequently served as a member of the faculty of the Hastings College of Trial Advocacy in San Francisco. He is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" under the headings of Personal Injury Litigation and Business Litigation. He is a member, by invitation, of both the American Board of Trial Advocates and the American College of Trial Lawyers.

He is married to the former Margaret Villee and they have three children, Robert C. Compton, Jr., Cathleen V. Compton and Walter K. Compton. Bob, Jr. is a professional photographer in New Orleans, Cathi practices law in Little Rock and Walter is an attorney for Murphy Oil in El Dorado. His daughter-in-law, Pat, is a law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Bob Shepherd and his son-in-law, William R. Wilson, Jr., is a U.S. District Judge. Compton also has four grandchildren: Maggie, Whitley, Jackson and Tyler.

A candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1970, he has served as a member of the Arkansas Penitentiary Commission in 1967, as special justice of the Supreme Court in 1966 and again in 1987, as special chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1989 and as special chairman of the Public Service Commission in 1990-1991.

The gift in Compton's honor counts toward The $300 Million Challenge, the campaign-within-a-campaign. The purpose of the Challenge is to raise $300 million for academic purposes to match the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation's $300 million gift. Challenge funds must be raised between January 1, 2002 and June 30, 2005, the end of the Campaign. The Challenge total stands at $170.8 million and the overall Campaign total stands at $800.5 million as of April 30, 2004.