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VietnameseGriffin: ‘Promoting from within demonstrates the depth of legal talent we have developed at the state’s top law firm’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement announcing the promotion of Senior Assistant Attorney General Noah Watson to Deputy Attorney General for Opinions and FOIA:
“Today I named Noah Watson as Deputy Attorney General of the Opinions and FOIA Division. Noah previously served as a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Litigation Division. His diligence, professionalism, and intellect have been assets in defending the interests of the State of Arkansas, and he will bring those with him to the leadership of the Opinions and FOIA Division.
“Promoting from within demonstrates the depth of legal talent we have developed at the state’s top law firm.”
Watson first joined the Office of the Attorney General in 2023 as Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Litigation Division. Previously, he was an associate attorney at Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull PLLC in Little Rock. He served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Lavenski Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Watson graduated from Harding University and the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.
Watson takes over the division following the recent promotion of Ryan Owsley to Chief Deputy Attorney General after the unexpected passing of Chief Deputy Bob. R. Brooks, Jr. in February.
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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 lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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