Application of and Developments in the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act

Learn about Arkansas's Freedom of Information Act from law professor Robert Steinbuch

The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), codified in Arkansas Code Ann. §§ 25-19-101 to 25-19-110, grants citizens of Arkansas the right to inspect and copy public records of state and local government agencies, unless those records are specifically exempted. This law also mandates that most meetings of governing bodies be open to the public. One of the most comprehensive and strongest open-records and open-meeting laws in the country, many Arkansans are unfamiliar with how the law applies to government entities and how they can use the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act to hold government officials accountable to the taxpayers they serve.

Join us for a presentation by University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law faculty professor Robert Steinbuch, author of the treatise on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Robert Steinbuch joined the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law faculty after several years in government and private practice, including having clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals, worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Professor Steinbuch is a weekly columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and he has also published in law reviews, legal periodicals, medical journals, and other venues.

Various state and national news sources have interviewed Steinbuch for his legal expertise. His coauthored article on “mismatch theory” was cited recently by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas regarding university admissions, and his article “Mere Thieves” was republished in the Securities Law Review as one of the year’s 10 best securities-law articles. He authored the treatise on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, and he has served as an expert witness on complex economic matters and testified before the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. He has also testified many times before the Arkansas legislature and worked with various legislators to draft legislation. He was the chair of the Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Steinbuch holds the Arkansas Bar Professorship at Bowen. As a Fulbright Scholar, he taught in Poland in 2015 and continues his affiliation with the program. He held the position of medical-legal editor for the Journal of the National Medical Association, was a commissioner on the Arkansas Commission for the Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Bank Initiative, and served on the boards of the Society of Chest Pain Centers and the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium. Steinbuch is a repeat recipient of the law school’s Faculty Excellence Awards in both scholarship and service.