Melva Harmon, a longtime defender of Arkansas workers and unions known to her Little Rock fans as “the people’s lawyer,” died July 3 at age 71.
A Texan who came to Arkansas as a VISTA community volunteer fresh out of Stephen F. Austin University in 1970, Harmon adopted Little Rock and the rest of the state after graduating from law school at the University of Texas in 1976.
Over the next four decades, she blazed a trail in negotiations and the courtroom, where she faced such entrenched bias that a judge once mused aloud that perhaps she was a subpar lawyer because she “was only a woman.” Representing Teamsters Local 878, other unions and individual workers in every type of employment dispute, Harmon became a fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers.
An animal lover known for her soft voice but strong mind, Harmon applied her experience in later years as a mediator and arbitrator.
Early on, back when she was an activist, she helped found the ACORN community organization and was a force in fighting the racist practice of “blockbusting” in Little Rock real estate.
“There is one less wonderful human being in the universe. My heart hurts,” said Kathlyn Graves, a friend and lawyer at the Mitchell Williams firm.
“Melva was well-respected and loved,” said fellow Little Rock employment attorney Carolyn Witherspoon. “She was a hard fighter for her clients.”
Witherspoon and others who knew her noted Harmon’s trustworthiness and energy. “She was one of those people who made the legal profession truly a profession.”
“Despite having to fight constantly for her clients in tough legal environments, Melva was an eternal optimist,” her friends said in an obituary published by Roller-Chenal Funeral Home. She loved cats, art and traveling, and could get in a blow as a kickboxer, the biography said.
In her last months, Harmon had been representing Mona Dixon, a longtime employee of the Arkansas Educational Telecommunications Network Foundation appealing her firing in Conway, claiming she was a whistleblower facing retaliation from AETN Executive Director Courtney Pledger. That case has been taken over by John D. Coulter of McMath Woods P.A.
“Melva Harmon was a leader in her field, a well-regarded, compassionate advocate whose client and professional service will be missed by the state and profession,” Brian Rosenthal, president of the Arkansas Bar Association, said in a statement. “Her work was recognized locally and nationally for its consistent excellence.”
Before Harmon was a lawyer, she was a force for change, leading ACORN’s successful fight against blockbusting, or “panic selling,” in which real estate agents frightened white property owners with talk that black families were planning to move in, disrupting property values. Harmon led the ACORN team that partnered with the Oak Forest Property Owners Association to challenge the practice by proposed city ordinance. While the ordinance initially failed, ACORN’s public spotlight and lawsuits against companies accused of blockbusting seriously curtailed the trend.
Harmon is survived by two sisters, Barbara Donahue and Nell Scarborough, as well as nieces, nephews and their families. A life celebration will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 28, at Rusty Tractor Vineyards in Little Rock.
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