
E.B. (Chip) Chiles, IV
Partner
Complex Business Litigation, Appellate Practice, Class Action Litigation, Products Liability Litigation, Employment Litigation
Mr. Chiles’s practice focuses on business-related litigation. He is recognized in Commercial Litigation in Chambers and Partners' 2005, 2006, and 2007 editions of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, in Appellate Law in the 2007 and 2008 editions of Best Lawyers in America, in Business Litigation in the 2006 and 2007 editions of Mid-South SuperLawyers, and in the 2008 edition of Benchmark’s America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys. He is an Elected Member of The American Law Institute and a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America.
Mr. Chiles’s jury-trial experience includes:
Mr. Chiles has also successfully tried jury cases involving allegations of sexual harassment and medical malpractice.
In addition to his jury-trial experience, Mr. Chiles has served as counsel in a variety of non-jury trials, including the defense of candidates in cases challenging their qualifications for state office, the representation of a group of cotton-ginning companies in a suit involving the constitutionality of certain regulations of the Arkansas State Plant Board, and the representation of a law firm in a dispute with another lawyer regarding the division of a contingency fee.
Mr. Chiles has recently been involved in the defense of a number of putative class actions. These matters include:
Mr. Chiles has also represented chemical manufacturers in products-liability cases and CERCLA actions and companies in employment-related breach-of-contract, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful-termination cases.
Besides his practice in trial courts, Mr. Chiles has an active practice handling civil appeals. He has served as appellate counsel in over 30 appeals since 2001. He has handled appeals both in cases in which lawyers with the firm acted as trial counsel and in cases in which we were retained after the proceedings in the trial courts. He has appeared as appellate counsel on a variety of issues, including:
Mr. Chiles has handled appeals in the United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Eighth Circuits, the Supreme Court of Arkansas, the Arkansas Court of Appeals, and the Mississippi Court of Appeals. He has also been responsible for petitions to the United States Supreme Court for writs of certiorari. He is a member of the drafting committee for the 2007 edition of Handling Appeals in Arkansas and is a frequent speaker regarding appeals in Arkansas and the Eighth Circuit.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Mr. Chiles was a law clerk to the Honorable G. Thomas Eisele, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, from 1996 to 1998. He received the highest score on the Arkansas Bar Examination in the summer of 1996, the year he was licensed to practice law. He is now also licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee and in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Sixth Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Education
Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1996)
Hendrix College (B.A., summa cum laude and with distinction in English, 1993)
Publication
A Hand to Rock the Cradle: Transracial Adoption, the Multiethnic Placement Act, and a Proposal for the Arkansas General Assembly, 49 Ark. L. Rev. 501 (1996)
Associations and Affiliations
Elected Member, The American Law Institute; Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America; Member, International Association of Defense Counsel; Former Chair, Federal Practice Committee, Eastern District of Arkansas; Charter Member, Bar Association of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; Member, Defense Research Institute; Barrister, Henry Woods Inn of Court; Sustaining Member, Arkansas Bar Association; Member, American Bar Association; Member, Pulaski County Bar Association; Fellow, Arkansas Bar Foundation; Member, Hendrix College President's Club
Charitable Organizations
Arkansas Lighthouse for the Blind, Board of Directors