Wendell Griffen

Judge Wendell L. Griffen was born September 23, 1952, in Prescott, Arkansas, and grew up near Delight (Pike County), Arkansas. He attended Rosenwald Elementary near Delight and Simmons High School in Okolona before graduating in 1968 from Delight High School. He is a 1973 graduate from the University of Arkansas where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. From May 17, 1973, to July 31, 1976, Judge Griffen served in the United States Army, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant before his honorable discharge.

Judge Griffen attended the University of Arkansas School of Law from August 1976 through May 1979, when he received the Juris Doctor degree. While in law school he served in the Student Bar Association, was president of the Black Law Student Association, and was a member and Associate Editor of the Arkansas Law Review. He was awarded the first Silas Hunt Memorial Justice Award presented by the Black Law Student Association in memory of Silas Hunt, the first black law student admitted to an institution of higher education below the Mason Dixon line, in 1979.

After graduation from law school Judge Griffen joined the Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, becoming the first lawyer of color to join a major Arkansas law firm. He practiced business and tort litigation with the firm and was admitted to the partnership in January 1984, becoming the first lawyer of color admitted to the partnership of a major Arkansas law firm. On April 15, 1985, Governor Bill Clinton appointed him Chairman of the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission, and Griffen served in that position until February 2, 1987, when he returned to his law practice with Wright, Lindsey & Jennings. Governor Jim Guy Tucker appointed Judge Griffen to the Court of Appeals in December 1995, and he began entered judicial service January 1, 1996.

Judge Griffen is a member of the American, National, and Arkansas Bar Associations, the W. Harold Flowers Law Society (Arkansas affiliate of the National Bar Association), the Pulaski County Bar Association, Judge William R. Overton Inn of Court, American Law Institute, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has served on the Executive Council and in the House of Delegates of the Arkansas Bar Association. He has served as President (1998-99) of the Pulaski County Bar Association, as President (1996-97) of the Judge William R. Overton Inn of Court, and as President (1997-present) of the Black Alumni Society of the Arkansas Alumni Association. He was a charter board member of Volunteer Organization for Central Arkansas Legal Services (VOCALS), and is a frequent lecturer at bar seminars concerning legal ethics and professionalism. His published writings include: Race, Law, and Culture: A Call to New Thinking, Leadership, and Action, 21 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 901 (Summer 1999); Comment: Judicial Accountability and Discipline, 61 Law & Contemp. Probs. 75 (Summer 1998); and The Case For Religious Values in Judicial Decision-Making, 81 Marq. L. Rev. 513 (1998).

Judge Griffen is an ordained Baptist minister and former pastor who now serves as Coordinator of Ministries for Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Little Rock.  He is married to Dr. Patricia L. Griffen, a clinical psychologist practicing in Little Rock, and they are parents to two sons: Martyn and Elliott.