Kristine Gerhard Baker
Managing Member
Complex Business Litigation, Employment Litigation, Securities Litigation, Products Liability Litigation, First Amendment, Media Law
Ms. Baker’s practice focuses on business-related litigation. She is recognized in Commercial Litigation in Chambers and Partners' America's Leading Lawyers for Business; listed with The Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Commercial Litigation, Litigation – First Amendment, Litigation – Labor & Employment, Employment Law – Individuals, Employment Law – Management, and Labor Law – Management, and named Best Lawyers’ 2012 Little Rock Litigation – First Amendment Lawyer of the Year. Ms. Baker is listed in the Martindale-Hubbell® Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers, was named a Rising Star by Mid-South Super Lawyers in the area of Business Litigation for the years 2008 – 2010, and was recognized as an emerging business leader in the Forty Under 40 list published by Arkansas Business in 2010.
Her recent jury trial experience includes:
- the representation of insurance companies in disputes regarding coverage and exclusionary clauses,
- the representation of companies and individuals in cases alleging fraud and securities law violations,
- the representation of automobile manufacturers in products liability and alleged defective seatbelt and airbag cases,
- the representation of companies in cases alleging negligence and product shifts in 18-wheelers resulting in fatal accidents,
- the representation of manufacturers in cases brought by several hundred nearby residents claiming personal injury, property damage, groundwater contamination, and real estate stigma resulting from purported defective and toxic chemicals used in treating processes, and
- the representation of manufacturers in numerous cases alleging personal injury resulting from purported defective welding products.
Ms. Baker has been involved in many multi-week jury trials tried to verdict, including a ten-week jury trial in Arkansas state court, an eight-week jury trial in Louisiana state court, and a four-week jury trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Ms. Baker regularly represents employers in discrimination, wage-and-hour, and wrongful-termination cases pending in both state and federal court. She has appeared before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, United States Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, and United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration. She writes articles for and speaks regularly to attorneys and members of the business community regarding personnel and employment law issues.
In addition, Ms. Baker handles cases involving the First Amendment and media law. She has defended numerous libel and slander cases for national and local newspapers and television networks, has defended newspapers in cases involving the publication of wrong photographs, and regularly advises clients on prepublication review and issues arising under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Along with her jury trial experience, Ms. Baker has served as counsel in a variety of non-jury trials and arbitrated matters, including disputes over the registration of foreign judgments, construction matters, franchise agreements, covenants not to compete, and employment agreements. Ms. Baker frequently represents customers, individual brokers, and brokerage firms in customer complaints, broker-dealer disputes, and raiding claims before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
She has experience mediating cases before private mediators and court-sponsored mediators in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas. Ms. Baker has mediated several employment disputes, contract cases, personal injury cases, and disputes arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Ms. Baker is a member of the 1989 Charter Class of the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois. Ms. Baker attended Saint Louis University as a Presidential Scholar, receiving a full tuition academic scholarship, and became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She attended Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1993 to 1994 as an Olin Fellow, receiving a full tuition academic scholarship. In 1994, Ms. Baker transferred to the University of Arkansas and completed her legal studies there. At the University of Arkansas, Ms. Baker was an Articles Editor for the Arkansas Law Review, a member of the Board of Advocates, and a member of the University of Arkansas’ First Amendment National Moot Court Team.
Upon graduation from the University of Arkansas, Ms. Baker served as a law clerk to the Honorable Susan Webber Wright, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, from 1996 to 1998. Ms. Baker is licensed to practice in the State of Arkansas, the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Sixth Circuits, and the Supreme Court of Alabama.
Education
University of Arkansas School of Law (J.D., with high honors, 1996)
Washington University School of Law (1993-1994)
Saint Louis University (B.A., English and American Studies, summa cum laude, 1993)
Associations and Affiliations
Appointed Member, Arkansas Model Jury Instructions (Civil) Committee; Board Member and Fellow, Arkansas Bar Foundation; Member of the Commission on Diversity and Member of the Women in the Profession Committee, Arkansas Bar Association; Member and Former Board Member, Pulaski County Bar Association; Former Member, Federal Practice Committee, Eastern District of Arkansas; Former Member, Attorney Disciplinary Committee, Eastern District of Arkansas; Member and Contributing Member of Communications Committee, Bar Association of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; Member, Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers; Barrister, William R. Overton Inn of Court; Member, Defense Research Institute; Member, American Bar Association
Publications
Contributing Author, The Guide to Arkansas Statutes of Limitations (4th ed.), Young Lawyers Section, Arkansas Bar Association (2002).
BB&B Construction Co. v. F.D.I.C. Mechanics’ and Materialmen’s Liens in Arkansas: Priority as a Function of Removability, 48 Ark. L. Rev. 783 (1995).
Charitable Organizations
Presbyterian Village, Board Member; Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church, Former Social Concerns Committee Chair, Former Parish Council Member; Thomas More Society, Member; Dress for Success Little Rock, Former Board Member; Camp Aldersgate, Past Co-Chair for Aldersgate After Dark; March of Dimes, Past Fundraising Co-Chair for Signature Chefs Auction