Michael T. Flannery

Judge George Howard, Jr. Professorship

(501) 916-5414 | Room 519
Email: [email protected]
Faculty Assistant: Sam Smith | Room 524 | (501) 916-5440 | [email protected]

Curriculum Vitae

Michael Flannery joined the law school in 2003 and was named the Judge George Howard, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law in 2010. He served as associate dean for Faculty Development from 2014 to 2016, and associate dean for Academic Affairs from 2018 to 2020. He teaches Decedents’ Estates and Trusts, The Prudent Investing of Trusts, Family Law, The Sexual Exploitation of Children, Animal Law, and Sports Law. He served as a special judge for the 20th Judicial District of the State of Arkansas between 2008 and 2011.

Professor Flannery also serves as a legislative expert liaison for the Arkansas Bar Association’s Legislative Committee on Family Law. Professor Flannery earned the Faculty Excellence Award for Research in 2017, 2010, and 2006, and earned the Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching in 2012. He also won the 2016 John M. DiPippa Scholarship Award for his case book entitled, “The Sexual Exploitation of Children.” He was featured on National Public Radio as an “Agent of Change.” He is the author of 10 books, two book chapters, 14 law review articles, and 12 expert commentaries. Professor Flannery wrote as an expert commentator for the Trusts and Estates division of Matthew Bender’s LexisNexis Expert Commentaries. While at Catholic University, he was a board member on the Moot Court Association, a staff member on the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy, and special features editor for the Judicial Notice newspaper. Upon graduation, he worked as an assistant city solicitor in Philadelphia. While with the City Solicitor’s Office, he represented the Department of Human Services in child dependency litigation and the County Office of Mental Health in mental health law litigation.

Professor Flannery also worked in the special litigation division, focusing on prison riot litigation. In 1994, he joined the law firm of Gold-Bikin, Clifford and Young as an associate, where he practiced in the area of domestic relations and divorce litigation. He then joined the law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen before joining the faculty at the Villanova University School of Law, where he taught for eight years before joining the faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Professor Flannery’s research has been cited by the Alabama Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Iowa, the Supreme Court of Michigan, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, the Supreme Court of Texas, the Colorado Court of Appeals, the First District Court of Appeals of Florida, the Court of Appeals of Georgia, the Court of Appeals of Minnesota, and the Supreme Court of New York. He speaks regularly on various panel symposia and is a member of numerous bar associations and legal organizations.