Richard Blanks Adkisson (October 12, 1932 – May 18, 2011) was chief justice of the

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction o ...

from 1980 to 1984. Born in

Faulkner County, Arkansas Faulkner County is located in the Central Arkansas region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 113,237, making it the fifth most populous of Arkansas's 75 counties. The county seat and largest city is Conwa ...

, Adkisson attended various public schools in the region, and then joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

, serving from January 1951 to July 1954. He then received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

in 1957, and a J.D. from the same institution in 1959. After working in private practice for a time, Adkisson was chief assistant attorney general of Arkansas from 1963 to 1966, and then a prosecuting attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, from 1967 to 1970. In 1970, Adkisson was elected as a judge of the Pulaski County Circuit Court, to which he was reelected in 1974 and 1978. In 1980, Adkisson was elected chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, to fill the remaining four years of the term to which retiring chief justice John A. Fogleman had been elected."Chief justice to step down from high court Sept. 1", ''Baxter Bulletin'' (August 20, 1984), p. 3. but did not run for reelection in 1984, instead resigning before the end of his term. At the time of his resignation, it was reported that he faced health problems. Adkisson indicated that he did not intend to return to the private practice of law, but eventually did so. Adkisson died of cancer in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, at the age of 78.

References

1932 births 2011 deaths People from Faulkner County, Arkansas University of Arkansas alumni Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court {{US-state-judge-stub