Meet Justice Webb
Justice Barbara Womack Webb began practicing law in 1982 where she served as in-house counsel for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. From 1987 – 1997, she practiced law with the law firm of Eichenbaum, Scott, Miller, Liles & Heister, P.A. where she primarily represented the FDIC and worked along-side federal law enforcement agencies to recover funds for the innocent deposit holders during the savings and loan crisis.
In 1997 she was elected to serve as the first female Prosecuting Attorney for the 7th and 22nd Judicial Districts in Arkansas. She led efforts to seek and restore justice after a federal investigation and successful prosecution of the previous Prosecuting Attorney. She continued to serve as Prosecuting Attorney for three terms.
Her judicial career began in 2005 as an Administrative Law Judge for the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission. As an ALJ, she was elected President of the Arkansas Association of Administrative Adjudicator’s and served as an Adjunct Professor of the Bowen School of Law. In 2015, she became the Chief Executive Officer of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission. In 2018 she was appointed by Governor Hutchinson to serve as the first female Circuit Judge in Saline County. In 2019 she became the Chief Administrative Law Judge at the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission where she remained until January 2021 when she began her term on the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Justice Webb has served the legal community in many capacities. She was a Special Commissioner on the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission, a Special Justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court, a City Court Judge, a Special Judge in Municipal Court, and an Alderman. She practiced both criminal and civil litigation in both state and federal courts in Arkansas and handled major state regulatory proceedings in Arkansas and Oklahoma. She served on the Arkansas Juvenile Justice Coalition, the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, the State Crime Lab Board, and the Arkansas Ethics Commission. She is a member of the Arkansas Judicial Council and the Federalist Society. She is currently serving the Supreme Court on the Court Reporter’s Committee and the Committee on Model Criminal Jury Instructions and is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association.
Justice Webb earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science in 1979 from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she was named to Phi Beta Kappa, and was awarded the Henry M. Alexander Award for academic achievement as the top graduating senior in her degree. She went on to earn her Juris Doctorate from the Bowen School of Law in 1982, where she was the Associate Editor of the UALR Law Journal.
Married 36 years, living in Benton
She has been involved in her community and church. She served as Moderator of the Arkansas Presbytery and currently serves on the Committee on Ministry, Arkansas Presbytery. As Prosecutor, she recognized the need and led the efforts to establish Safe Haven, Inc., a domestic violence shelter for adult and child victims of abuse in Saline County. She also served as legal counsel for the Ouachita Area Council of the Boy Scouts.
Justice Webb lives in Benton, Arkansas. She has been married to her husband, Doyle for 36 years and is a proud mom to three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Cloie, Carlisle, and Sophie.