The legal profession is one famous for its complexity and nuance. With legal specializations ranging from civil to criminal, to family, to administrative, and beyond, the array of laws and requirements of any given case is regularly both broad and deep. An effective legal professional must navigate these situations and communicate clearly with the client. Some of the most effective advocates in the legal industry aren’t just skilled attorneys and legal scholars, but outstanding members of their community driven by a strong set of internal values.
Little Rock, Arkansas, plays host to one such legal advocate in the form of Michael Langley, a seasoned attorney with decades of experience in civil and administrative law. Langley has built his career and reputation on professionalism, discretion, and trust, earned through hands-on client service and a pragmatic approach to the complexities of legal practice. Law is complicated to study and practice, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be incomprehensible; Langley works hard to demystify the process for his clients, treating them with the clarity they deserve.
Inherited Inspiration
Like many successful business professionals, Michael Langley was inspired by someone close to him. Langley looked at the way his father, a lawyer himself, helped clients and lent his skills and energy to the community as a whole, and knew that the legal path was the only possible choice. That blend of legal competency and community-minded action would become the hallmarks of Langley’s own career and would inform his professional values moving forward.
As an entrepreneur, Michael Langley’s inspirations are just as close to home. William E. Brewer, the Chairman of the First National Bank of Paragould, is a significant inspiration both as a successful businessman and as a parent. Under his mentorship, Langley learned how to work with other people and find success in business, all while remaining accountable.
“I watched him take a small town bank and grow it while maintaining the relationships with his customers,” Langley explains. “The barriers didn’t come; the bigger the bank got.”
Driving Values and Personal Success
As a lawyer in Little Rock, Michael Langley is entrusted with his clients’ well-being and is relied on to deliver sound legal outcomes. Given such a responsibility, it’s no surprise that he operates with a strict set of personal and professional values that guide his day-to-day decision-making. As a father and proud member of his community, it follows naturally that foremost amongst his values is a dedication to putting others first.
“Relationships are more important than money,” Langley says. “Acting with honesty and integrity will take you far. Do what you say you will do, and it will be rewarded.”
These values carry on to define Langley’s definition of success. It’s easy for anyone working in a specialist role—a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, and so on—to define success by financial metrics or growth. Langley’s success is defined purely by two metrics: helping clients achieve their goals and outcomes, and being able to spend time with his family and community. With the long list of clients he and his firm have helped on one side, and his beloved family on the other, Langley feels he’s accomplished much in his career already.
“I don’t achieve anything if the client doesn’t,” he says. “Other than that, I spend as much time as I can with my family doing the things they want. It allows me to stay in the moment and out of my head. Stress management is important.”
Defining Moments and Uplifting Memories
Michael Langley’s career would have looked very different if not for a few key moments. The most important of these was being appointed the director of Arkansas’s Alcoholic Beverage Control division in 2007, a role he served in for the next eight years. The Alcoholic Beverage Control is a division of the state’s Department of Finance and Administration, and is tasked with ensuring businesses meet all legal compliance requirements for the service and sale of alcohol. In that position, he was able to drive changes and legal advancements across the state that benefited small businesses, large corporations, and local communities of varying size.
Despite the impact and value of that post and its impact on Langley’s career path, it’s not the only story that defines his career. Michael Langley is, at his core, a community-driven legal advocate, and the stories that stand out most in his memory are the ones where he’s helping the people around him. One such story comes from his early years as a lawyer.
“When I was a young lawyer, I assisted a couple in completing an adoption,” Langley recalls. The couple lived across the state. A few years later, I relocated to their area, and I had not seen them since the adoption. We got reconnected through another matter, and I got to see this family I helped create grow up. I saw the impact that it made on all of them. In the grand scheme of things, I didn’t do much, but the outcome was amazing. Small acts really can lead to big impacts.”
Giving Back
Outside of his work in the office, Michael Langley regularly gives back to his community and works with local charities and community service organizations to help others. The two organizations he works with most consistently are St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and the Isaiah Joe Foundation. Beyond that, he regularly mentors early-career legal professionals and is passionate about the role law plays in strengthening families, protecting individual rights, and improving local communities.
To other up-and-coming legal professionals or entrepreneurs, Langley has only two pieces of advice to give: Ask more questions, and be people-centric. As someone who has benefited from mentorships and found success by working with people extensively, Langley knows how valuable it is to approach problems and situations as a collaborative worker and lifetime learner. Hardships and challenges are an inevitable fact of life, and the best way to overcome them is to build a community and try to learn wherever possible.
