Darrin L. Williams is an American lawyer and politician from the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
. A member of the
Democratic Party, Williams is a former member of the
Arkansas House of Representatives
The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...
from District 36. He was
term-limited
A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, whe ...
and ineligible to run for re-election in 2014. He was House Speaker Pro Tempore for the term from March 2012 to December 2012.
Biography
Williams is from
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
.
[ When Williams was a teenager, ]Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
, then the governor of Arkansas
The governor of Arkansas is the head of government of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics and government of Arkansas, Arkansas government a ...
, appointed him to a school consolidation board.[ He attended ]Little Rock Central High School
Little Rock Central High School (LRCH) is an accredited comprehensive education, comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Secondary education in the United States, United States. The school was the Little ...
and was student body president
The student government president (sometimes called a student body president, student council president, or simply a school president) is generally the highest-ranking officer of a student union. While a student government group and a class presi ...
in 1986.[ He then received his ]bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
from Hendrix College
Hendrix College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Approximately 1,000 students are enrolled, mostly undergraduates. While affiliated with the United Methodist Chu ...
, his Master of Laws
A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject.
In many jurisdi ...
degree from Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...
, and his Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
from Vanderbilt University School of Law.[ During this time, he worked as an ]intern
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...
for Bill McCuen, the Secretary of State of Arkansas
The Arkansas Secretary of State is one of the elected constitutional officers of the U.S. State of Arkansas.
The current Secretary of State is Republican Cole Jester who was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders after John Thurston be ...
, and David Pryor
David Hampton Pryor (August 29, 1934 – April 20, 2024) was an American politician who served as a representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district from 1966 until 1973 and as a senator from Arkansas from 1979 until 1997. A member of t ...
, then a member of the United States Senate. Williams worked as a deputy director of the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton presidency.[
Williams worked for Mark Pryor as his chief of staff, while Pryor was Attorney General of Arkansas, and as his deputy attorney general. He ran for the Arkansas House in Pulaski County, Arkansas, Pulaski County for the first time in 2008.][ and is the CEO of Southern Bancorp Inc.]
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Darrin
Living people
Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas
Hendrix College alumni
Vanderbilt University Law School alumni
Georgetown University Law Center alumni
Democratic Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives
21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly
Arkansas lawyers
African-American state legislators in Arkansas
Lawyers from Little Rock, Arkansas
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century African-American politicians