James (Jim) Gift grew up in the Lincoln Nebraska area, he moved to Arkansas to attend
UCA, where he graduated with his Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy, minor in Religion
and from the Honors College. Jim jokes that his degree taught him a lot about a bunch
of dead guys. After undergrad, Jim did every sales job known to man. Insurance, Cars,
Funerals, Security systems, bathroom remodels and furniture. He enjoyed sales, but
hated working 13 out of 14 days. One day he was talking with his wife, Melissa and
decided that something needed to change. So Jim and Melissa embarked on Law
School. While in law school at William H. Bowen School of Law, Jim met Amy and they
formed a fast friendship and a close study group, which became known as the Law
school of Jim. Jim thought he wanted to be a large firm lawyer and he worked hard to
get clerkships at those firms, but being a non-traditional student, he instead was placed
with a few smaller firms that gave him a larger picture of law. In his third year he was
selected to clerk for Arkansas’ Supreme Court Justice Courtney Hudson. While in
Justice Hudson’s office, he was the first student clerk in Justice Hudson’s office to get
language into Arkansas Law. Shortly before graduating Jim decided that opening his
own firm and being his own boss would be a nice change from the 13 days out of 14,
and a partnership with Amy was formed. Jim and Melissa moved to the Hardy area just
after graduation and haven’t looked back. In his free time, Jim enjoys spending time
with his daughters, Melissa, and the family cats. He also enjoys a good video game,
playing Dungeons and Dragons, and rescuing random cats.