Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
BA, Ouachita Baptist University, 2009; MA, University of Arkansas, 2012; JD, Harvard Law School, 2017
Laura E. Bates joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 2022. She teaches Research, Writing, & Analysis and Law & Literature.
Before teaching at the law school, Professor Bates practiced law at Paul, Weiss in Washington, D.C. and at Wright, Lindsey, & Jennings in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is an experienced litigator, who has served as trial and appellate counsel in bench and jury trials. As an appellate advocate, Professor Bates has successfully argued before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and has prepared petitions for certiorari and merits briefs before the United States Supreme Court, including the winning merits brief in Seila Law v. CFPB.
Professor Bates is dedicated to pro bono work. She regularly represents pro bono clients in criminal and civil cases. She also sits on the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross Serving Greater Arkansas.
Professor Bates graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Executive Board of the Harvard International Law Journal and on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Women’s Law Association. Immediately after law school, she clerked for Judge Bobby E. Shepherd on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prior to law school, Professor Bates earned an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Arkansas. She taught literature courses, including a Jane Austen course, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and at Biola University in California. She also taught in Pristina, Kosovo; Riobamba, Ecuador; and Stuttgart, Germany.
