Professional Experience
Before joining the Barber Law Firm, Cotten Cunningham was the managing partner of a mid-size law firm specializing in insurance defense litigation. Before joining that firm, he represented the Arkansas Health Care Association and the nursing home industry during the 83rd Arkansas General Assembly. During that Session he actively lobbied for the “Quality Assurance Fee,” which enabled the state of Arkansas to increase its Medicaid reimbursement rate to a level comparable to that of other surrounding states, and tort reform legislation to protect the nursing home industry from runaway jury verdicts and the ever‑increasing costs of insurance premiums for liability coverage.
Prior to his tenure as a lobbyist for the nursing home industry, Cotten served as an Assistant Attorney General within the Environmental/Utilities Division of the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office for approximately two years. He earned a Master of Laws degree in environmental law from The George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C., and served an internship with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Annapolis, Maryland, before joining the Attorney General’s Office. During his period in Washington, he also worked on the staff of Congressman Robert "Marion" Berry of Arkansas.
Cotten received his Juris Doctorate in 1997 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. He completed his undergraduate studies in 1993 at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and majored in finance and insurance.
Cotten is a member of the firm’s Trucking and Motor Carrier Practice Group and 24-Hour Emergency Response Team, Litigation Practice Group, Insurance Practice Group, Environmental Law Practice Group, and Products Liability Practice Group. He is a member of the Pulaski County, Arkansas, and American Bar Associations, a Fellow of the Arkansas Bar Foundation, a member of DRI and the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel, and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Volunteer Organization Central Arkansas Legal Services (VOCALS), is a member of the Henry Woods Inn of Court as a master of the bench and mentor, and recently served on the Arkansas Continuing Legal Education Board. Cotten is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Personal Injury Litigation, is a Mid-South Super Lawyer for Personal Injury Defense, and is rated an AV Preeminent attorney by the Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™, the gold standard in attorney ratings.