Arkansas' former attorney general, now in private practice, announced Monday that he will return to the Capitol as a paid lobbyist.
Dustin McDaniel, a former Democratic legislator and most recent attorney general, said that he has registered as a lobbyist with the Arkansas Ethics Commission in a move he made to offer legal clients a broader array of services.
"I care about public policy, and I care about making sure my clients are well treated in a complicated regulatory environment," he said. "The line between lawyering and lobbying, when it comes to state agencies, is sometimes a blurry line. But in order to err on the side of caution, I was glad to go ahead and register."
McDaniel also announced Monday that he is now a member of the Washington, D.C., bar and will be able to handle clients' cases in the nation's top courts.
The Jonesboro native founded his firm, McDaniel, Richardson and Calhoun PLLC, last year with Scott Richardson and Bart Calhoun, both of whom worked as assistant attorneys general while he was the state's chief lawyer.
The practice -- which offers a range of legal services from criminal and family law to regulation compliance and appellate law -- employs six people, and McDaniel said he's excited by the prospects of further growth.
"I would very much like to open an office in Jonesboro with an attorney in it before the end of the year, but I don't know if I will or not," he said. "My only goal is quality, sustainable growth. I want good work for our clients... We want it to grow, but we don't want it to grow too fast such that we forget what we're doing."
McDaniel was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 2004 before serving two terms as the state's top attorney.
He said that as his practice grew, the thought of making a foray into lobbying and policy advocacy also grew.
State law requires former elected officials to wait a full year before becoming a lobbyist. That ban, he said, is no longer in effect.
Asked if he was worried about being tagged as a "lobbyist," McDaniel said he's only interested in providing a full set of professional services to a list of clients that includes Acxiom, AT&T, Calhoun Farms, Facebook and Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.
"I don't intend to run for office again anytime soon, if ever," McDaniel said. "I was a legislator before I was an attorney general and [as attorney general] I ran vigorous legislative packages every session I was in office. I'm excited to be going back to the Legislature. We're excited about expanding our legal services into other areas."
Metro on 02/09/2016