English
French
Spanish
VietnameseGriffin: ‘Ryan [Owsley] is one of the state’s foremost experts on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement announcing a change in title for a member of his senior leadership team.
“I have expanded the title of Ryan Owsley from Deputy Attorney General for Opinions to Deputy Attorney General for Opinions and FOIA. Adding ‘FOIA’ to Ryan’s title best reflects the invaluable role he plays in my office. Ryan is one of the state’s foremost experts on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, and he provides trusted counsel to me and other members of my staff in all matters related to the FOIA, plus serves as a member of my FOIA working group. He has worked under three Arkansas attorneys general, a Democrat and two Republicans, and during his time in this office he has faithfully trained more than 10,000 people around the state on the Arkansas FOIA. Those trainings have included lawyers, public officials at all levels of state and local government, and private citizens.
“Ryan has also been the primary editor of four editions of the Arkansas FOIA Handbook, has litigated FOIA issues at all levels of the Arkansas court system, drafted FOIA legislation for the General Assembly, written more than 150 AG opinions on FOIA, and has managed the internal responses to FOIA requests for two attorneys general, including me.
“In addition to his expertise on the FOIA, Ryan has done a remarkable job this year leading our Opinions Division. He and his team have restored professionalism and faith in the Office of the Attorney General as a resource for state officials seeking legal guidance and clarity. Under Ryan’s leadership, this year we have more than tripled the output of AG opinions over 2022, and we have reduced the turnaround time for opinions from an average of five months to 40 days.”
About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin attends Immanuel Baptist Church and lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
###
