Griffin: ‘I Am Thrilled That Arkansas Is Getting Such An Extraordinary Talent As Autumn To Be Our Next 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).
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About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
