Mary attended Hendrix College and graduated from the University of Tulsa as an Honor Graduate with a B.A. in History.

She then attended the University of Tulsa Law School and obtained her Juris Doctorate in 1987.

Mary began her legal career working the insurance defense firm of Joseph Paulk & Associates, in Tulsa. Mary moved to Arkansas in 1989 to join the Slinkard Law Firm and practiced there until 1996, when she became a partner in the firm of Cochran, Schneider & Croxton, P.A. She joined Keith, Miller, Butler, Schneider & Pawlik in November 2001. Her main areas of practice are domestic relations, family law, litigation, mediation and ad litem.  She is a board member of the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Benton Co. and former member of the Benton County Sunshine School.  Her family law mediation practice is an important part of her practice and she has given many speeches on family law and mediation.

Additional Information:

Position: Partner

Admitted:

• United States District Court, Arkansas,
• Western United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
• All Courts in Arkansas

Education:

• University of Tulsa Law School
• Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Juris Doctorate, 1987
• Hendrix College, Arkansas
• Bachelor of Arts in History, 1984

Civic Organizations:

• Board Member Single Parent Scholarship Fund
• Past Commissioner, Arkansas Early Childhood Commission
• Former Board Member of Benton County Sunshine School

Affiliations:

• Benton County Bar Association
• Past President, Benton County Bar Association
• Arkansas Bar Association
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America
• Arkansas Conflict Resolution Association

Additional Information:

• Certified Mediator, and Certified Ad Litem

Assistant: Tonya Catalan
Email: tonya@arkattorneys.com

Areas of Practice

• Divorce / Family Law
• Ad Litem
  An ad litem, is generally appointed by the court, as an attorney for the minor child in contested custody/visitation proceedings. The standard which an ad litem must adhere to is what is in the “best interests of the child.” In determining the “best interests” the ad litem is required to look at the relative stability of the homes of the parties, academic performance, psychological welfare, medical condition of the child and the parties, and the general overall environments that the minor child will live in, in order to aid and assist the court in it’s determination of where a minor child should live. Often times, attorney ad litems, make recommendations to the attorneys involved in the case, in order to see if the parties may be able to reach an out of court settlement.