Graham Talley

Graham Talley litigates and tries complex, multi-party and class action disputes for clients in the healthcare, insurance, retail and banking industries. In recent years, Graham has served as trial counsel more than a half dozen times, all in cases with millions of dollars at stake. His focus on trials often involves the preparation and cross-examination of scientific witnesses, the presentation of complex argument on legal issues during trial and the preservation of error.

Experience

-Served as lead appellate counsel for a state constitutional officer before the Arkansas Supreme Court in a lawsuit alleging violations of the Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act, obtaining a complete victory on appeal in a landmark decision interpreting Arkansas’s sovereign-immunity doctrine.

-Represented Arkansas’s largest healthcare system as lead counsel in a lawsuit involving an allegedly contaminated medical device, leading to the voluntary dismissal of the client immediately prior to decision on a pending motion for summary judgment.

-Led the expert workup of an eight-figure contract dispute for a multinational wholesale retailer, resulting in the dismissal of more than 95% of the plaintiff’s claimed damages.

-Served as trial counsel in a complex, multi-party professional liability action, obtaining the dismissal with prejudice of the client on a dispositive motion on the first day of a two-week trial.

-Represented a national automobile insurer in a class action involving the adjustment of personal injury protection, or “no-fault” insurance claims, defeating the certification of a proposed class comprised of more than 1500 members.

-Defended a publicly traded pharmaceutical company in state-court proceedings arising from the use of an injectable contraceptive, resulting in a dismissal with prejudice following the entry of summary judgment in favor of the client on preemption grounds.

-Represented multiple national insurance carriers in class actions involving the adjustment of first-party, total-loss automobile claims, obtaining complete dismissal in favor of the clients on Rule 12(b)(6) motions.

-Served as trial counsel in a professional liability case involving allegations of permanent paraplegia, obtaining a unanimous defense verdict after the plaintiff requested $10 million in damages from the jury.

-Defended national health services company in litigation involving alleged violations of state “any-willing-provider” laws, obtaining the dismissal of the client on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion.

-Arkansas Bar Association

-Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel

-Chairman, Board of Directors, Create Little Rock (2020)

-Ex-Officio Member, Board of Directors, Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce (2020)

-Planning Committee, Heifer International Urban Farm Fest (2018-2020)

-Editor-in-Chief, Arkansas Law Review (2014-2015)

Book Chapters

Lyn P. Pruitt & Graham C. Talley, Chapter 38, Arkansas, A Practitioner’s Guide to Class Actions (ABA Publications 3d ed. forthcoming 2021) (Marcy Hogan Greer ed.).

University of Arkansas School of Law

J.D., summa cum laude

2015

University of Arkansas

B.A., Political Science

2012