Judge Raymond Abramson files for election to the Arkansas Supreme Court

After visiting all 75 Arkansas counties during the past year, Judge Raymond Abramson promised to bring experience and small town values to the Arkansas Supreme Court as he filed for election to the state’s highest court today.

“I know the court system, I know the law and I know Arkansas,” Abramson said. “I’ve always believed that small town values like honesty, fairness and common sense are also the guiding principles for the application of law.”

Judge Abramson, a fourth generation Arkansan whose family settled in Holly Grove, AR more than 150 years ago, is seeking the position currently held by retiring Justice Jim Gunter.

Judge Abramson currently serves on the Arkansas Circuit Court of Appeals after he was appointed by Governor Mike Beebe in 2010. He practiced law for 34 years in Monroe County and served as a public defender, city attorney, and municipal judge.

“Practicing law in a small town is like being the only doctor in town,” Judge Abramson said. “Whatever comes in the door, you treat it. Over these last three decades, I worked hard to help my clients no matter what kind of legal problem they had.”

After obtaining his law degree from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Abramson returned to Holly Grove where his great grandfather first established roots in the 1860s. Judge Abramson still resides in Holly Grove with his wife of 35 years, Mockie. They have two daughters, Emily and Anne.

Judge Abramson’s late father, Ralph, was also a highly respected attorney and small businessman who engaged in many civic and charitable activities in Monroe County and Eastern Arkansas throughout his life. “His example inspired my life,” Judge Abramson said today.

Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeals, Judge Abramson accumulated a long list of accomplishments and positions of service to his community, including: Monroe county Public Defender, Clarendon Municipal Judge, Holly Grove City Attorney, President of the Monroe County Bar Association, President of the Arkansas Public Defenders Association and member of the Arkansas Supreme Court’s Committees on Criminal Practice, Criminal Jury Instructions, Opportunities for Women and Minorities and the Judicial Article Task Force.

Arkansas’s Non-Partisan Judicial General Election is scheduled Tuesday, May 22, 2012.