Making Legal Education Accessible
Charles W. Goldner, dean emeritus and professor of law, has opened the courts to thousands of Arkansans of modest means and improved the quality of legal education around the country. “Time and again, he has answered the call of this court…to make our judiciary better, to upgrade the competence of the Arkansas Bar, and to make our judicial system equally accessible to everyone,” said Jim Hannah, chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, who twice appointed him chair of the Access to Justice Commission.
During his tenure, Dean Goldner helped secure more than $1 million for civil legal services for the poor and a revision of the Rule of Professional Conduct to encourage lawyers to donate 50 hours annually in free legal services.
He has served as chair or committee member for the American Bar Association, Law School Admissions Council, and Arkansas and Pulaski County Bar Associations. In 2008, Goldner received the Pulaski County Bar Association’s Lawyer Citizen of the Year Award and was named honorary member of the Bowen Black Law Student’s Association.
At UA Little Rock for 21 years, Dean Goldner received his L.L.M. degree from Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. from the University of Oklahoma School of Law, and B.A. degree in political science from DePauw University.
Updated 3.30.2011