LITTLE ROCK (Wednesday, August 2, 2023) — University of Arkansas System President Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt and the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas have named David A. Curran as General Counsel of the state’s largest higher education system.
Curran, who has served as associate general counsel since 2016, began his new role as the chief legal officer for the UA System on Aug. 1. Patrick Hollingsworth served as interim general counsel after the retirement of JoAnn Maxey on Jan. 1 and has returned to his role as associate general counsel.
“David has shown an exceptional understanding of the complexities of the policies, procedures and issues that support our mission to serve Arkansans through the campuses, divisions and units that comprise the UA System,” Bobbitt said. “He’s been an effective and steadfast lawyer, advisor and leader at every point in his career and has certainly proven that in his time in administration at the system office.”
The UA System Office of General Counsel is a team of professionals charged with providing legal representation to the Board of Trustees, the UA System President, the system’s 14 academic campuses, the UA Division of Agriculture, and the various other units within the system. It provides in-house advising on a wide range of legal matters and represents the university and its employees in litigation.
“Working alongside the UA System legal team for the past nearly eight years has given me great confidence that we are working at a very high level of professionalism and efficiency, and I’m honored to have been chosen to continue working with these distinguished colleagues and clients in a leadership role,” Curran said.
Curran joined the Office of General Counsel in 2016 to provide day-to-day legal advice regarding employment law, constitutional law, contracts, institutional policies, privacy laws, and FOIA. He’s also handled litigation matters, assisted campuses in responding to agency investigations, and advised on legislation impacting the UA System and its campuses. Curran is a graduate of Hendrix College and the University of Texas School of Law. Immediately prior to joining the university, he worked at the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office, where he served as deputy attorney general and oversaw the Civil Department. His experience also includes clerking for Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and working at law firms in Washington, D.C., and Little Rock.
About the University of Arkansas System (www.uasys.edu)
Since its inception, the University of Arkansas System has developed a tradition of excellence that includes the state’s 1871 flagship, land-grant research university; Arkansas’s premier institution for medical education, treatment and research; a major metropolitan university; an 1890 land-grant university; two regional universities serving southern and western Arkansas; seven community colleges; two schools of law; a presidential school; a residential math and science high school; and a 100 percent-online university and divisions of agriculture, archeology and criminal justice. As the premier higher education system in the state, it enrolls more than 70,000 students, employs more than 17,000 employees, and has a total budget of more than $4 billion. An intrinsic part of the texture and fabric of Arkansas, the UA System is a driving force in the state’s economic, educational and cultural advancement.