Friday Eldredge & Clark of Little Rock announced Tuesday that Tom Mars will join the firm as senior counsel on Jan. 1.
Mars is a former director of the Arkansas State Police and a former general counsel and chief administrative officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville. Most recently, Mars was a litigation partner at Taylor English Duma LLP of Atlanta.
In a news release, the Friday firm said Mars "brings 30 years of combined legal, business, government relations, and leadership experience" to the role. Mars will be based in Friday's Little Rock office; his practice will include litigation, crisis management, business counseling and government relations.
"Tom's experience in private practice and as Walmart's general counsel will be an added asset to Friday Eldredge & Clark as we serve our clients," J. Shepherd Russell III, the firm's managing partner, said in a news release.
Mars worked for Asa Hutchinson when Hutchinson was U.S. Attorney, for Hillary Clinton when she worked for the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock and was Gov. Mike Huckabee's personal lawyer before becoming state police director.
Mars joined Wal-Mart in 2002 as vice president and division general counsel for litigation. After leaving the retailer in 2013, he was acting CEO of the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado.
"I couldn’t be more proud to be joining such a distinguished group of lawyers whose outstanding reputation has stood the test of time," Mars said.
