Hilburn & Harper

What Hilburn & Harper does

Hilburn & Harper, Ltd. is a full-service law firm founded in 1971 in North Little Rock, Arkansas, operating from a single office in the US Bank Building under a traditional partnership structure. The firm serves individuals, businesses, banks, municipalities, and nonprofit entities across Arkansas (with some out-of-state work), delivering legal services across roughly a dozen practice areas: commercial litigation, business organization, commercial lending and banking, property and construction, employment and municipal law, bankruptcy (creditor-side), family law (divorce, custody, adoption, paternity, prenuptials), tax and estate planning, wills/trusts/probate, and mediation/ADR.

The practice operates on a professional-services revenue model with hourly billing and fixed fees for defined services such as document preparation, mediated through direct client engagement plus a long-standing referral network. Go-to-market is reputation-led rather than sales-led, relying on attorney recognition in Super Lawyers, Little Rock Soiree Best Lawyers (23 appearances since 2020), Martindale-Hubbell AV ratings, and bar association leadership (e.g., Megan Wells as PCBA President 2024-2025). Technology footprint is minimal: standard case management and court filing tools, LawPay for online payments, and a website managed by MHP/TeamSI — no proprietary technology, no AI tooling.

The firm was the fifth largest in Arkansas during the 1980s after merging with Owens, McHaney & Calhoun in 1988, and rebranded from "Hilburn, Calhoon, Harper, Pruniski & Calhoun, Ltd." to "Hilburn & Harper, Ltd." in May 2021. It faces a generational transition risk: founder Sam Hilburn passed in January 2026 and long-time managing partner Ernest H. Harper Jr. in February 2023, prompting sustained lateral hiring and associate recruitment from 2022 through 2025 to refresh the bench.

Name

Hilburn & Harper

Legal name

Hilburn & Harper, Ltd.

Website

https://hilburnlawfirm.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hilburn & Harper, Ltd. is a full-service Arkansas law firm founded in 1971 that serves individuals, businesses, banks, and municipalities across Central Arkansas through commercial litigation, family law, estate planning, bankruptcy, and municipal law practice areas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Litigation & Dispute Resolution (BPAHAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Real Estate & Construction Law (BPAHAAAE), Family & Private Client (Trusts & Estates) Law (BPAHAAAK), Employment & Labor Law (BPAHAAAD)

Keywords

• Commercial litigation services
• Family law representation
• Estate planning services
• Bankruptcy legal services
• Business law counsel

Headquarters

HQ city

North Little Rock

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Services Fees: The firm provides comprehensive legal services across multiple practice areas including commercial litigation, family law, estate planning, real estate, bankruptcy, employment law, municipal law, and tax law. Revenue is generated through professional services fees, typically billed hourly, with fixed fees for certain services such as document preparation and consultations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Hilburn & Harper, Ltd. is a full-service Arkansas law firm that provides legal representation across commercial practice (commercial litigation, commercial lending and banking, property and construction, business organization, employment and municipal law), family law (divorce, adoptions, paternity, prenuptial agreements), bankruptcy, tax and estate planning, and mediation. The firm delivers these services on an hourly or fixed-fee basis to individual clients, business entities, and municipal governments in Arkansas and beyond.

Product overview

Hilburn & Harper, Ltd. is a full-service law firm offering comprehensive legal services through multiple practice areas. The firm operates as a unified legal services platform with distinct service lines including Commercial practice (property and construction, commercial lending and banking, commercial litigation, business organization, employment and municipal law), Family Law (divorce, adoptions, paternity, prenuptial agreements), Tax and Estate planning, Bankruptcy, and Mediation services. The practice areas are designed to work together to provide complete legal representation for clients throughout Arkansas.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Property & Construction Issues Consulting and litigation services related to the construction industry, real estate transactions, and property issues, including contract negotiations, lien filing and removal, and construction-related litigation for property owners, contractors, and developers.
• Commercial Lending & Banking Legal services for commercial lending transactions including loan securitization documents, title insurance reviews, asset-based lending, and Uniform Commercial Code matters for banks, lenders, and borrowers.
• Commercial Litigation Representation in simple and complex general, commercial, construction, municipal, labor, employment, insurance-related, personal injury, administrative, and bankruptcy litigation matters for businesses and individuals.
• Business Organization Preparation and review of business organizational documents for various forms of business entities, including governance agreements, sale of stock or ownership units, and business restructuring for business owners and entrepreneurs.
• Employment & Municipal Law Labor and employment legal services including EEOC claims defense, civil rights litigation, ADA, FLSA, and FMLA matters for employers, combined with municipal law representation including day-to-day counseling and ordinance drafting for Arkansas municipalities.
• Bankruptcy Representation of creditors in all types of business and personal bankruptcy filings (Chapters 7, 11, 12 & 13), including relief from automatic stay, reaffirmation agreements, and dischargeability objections.
• Divorce & Post-Divorce Divorce and post-divorce legal representation including property division, custody arrangements, spousal and child support calculations, and modification proceedings for individuals and families.
• Adoptions & Guardianships Legal services for various types of adoption including birth, dependency-neglect, stepparent, and single-parent adoptions, as well as guardianship establishment and representation for families and individuals.
• Paternity Paternity actions to establish parental rights, custody arrangements, visitation schedules, and financial support determinations for parents and children.
• Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements Preparation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements to protect assets and determine distribution terms in the event of separation, divorce, or death for individuals and couples.
• Tax & Estate Planning Estate planning advice including limited liability corporations, revocable trusts, generation-skipping trusts, gifting programs, and life insurance planning, plus tax controversy representation before IRS and state authorities for individuals and businesses.
• Wills, Trusts, & Probate Creation of wills, various trust structures (revocable, irrevocable, living), and probate administration services for estate distribution for individuals and families.
• Mediation Certified domestic relations mediation services and alternative dispute resolution for civil, probate, and domestic relations cases, delivered by certified mediators including Scott Hilburn and former Circuit Judge Mackie M. Pierce.

Quantifiable outcome

• Arkansas Supreme Court unanimously reversed $12M jury verdict for client KBX
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• MHP/TeamSIminorOthersWebsite design and development partner responsible for the firm's website design and development. MHP/TeamSI is a digital agency specializing in law firm websites.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Market position

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/HilburnHarper

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hilburn & Harper