Joseph B. Hurst Jr. is the head of the firm's Employee Benefits Practice Group. His focus is on the design, implementation and administration of tax-qualified retirement plans (including defined benefit pension plans, profit-sharing plans, 401(k) plans and ESOPs), nonqualified deferred compensation plans, and welfare benefit plans for financial institutions, regular business organizations, professional corporations and governmental and non-profit organizations.

He assists plan sponsors and fiduciaries with regulatory compliance with ERISA, state and federal tax issues and with local legislation affecting retirement and welfare plans. In addition, he acts as counsel to plan sponsors, fiduciaries and participants with respect to ERISA controversies and litigation.

• New York University School of Law, LL.M. in Taxation, 1981
• University of Arkansas School of Law, J.D., With Honors, 1980
• Vanderbilt University, B.A.in Business and Accounting, cum laude, 1977

• Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers in America, Little Rock, 2025 - Employee Benefits
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Employee Benefits, since 1989
• Ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Labor and Employment: Employee Benefits and Compensation, since 2008
• Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell
• Selected to the Mid-South Super Lawyers List, since 2008
  • Top 50: Arkansas Super Lawyers

• Arkansas Bar Association, since 1980
• Pulaski County Bar Association, since 1980
• Southwest Benefits Association
• ESOP Association
• American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries, 1999-Present; Associated Professional
• National Association of Stock Plan Professionals
• The Gulf Coast Area TE/GE Council, 2001-Present
• PWBA Dallas Regional Office Practitioner Group, 2001-Present
• Community Associations
• Quapaw Council, Boy Scouts of America, 2000-Present, Board Member
• The First Tee of Central Arkansas, Board President
• Kappa Sigma
• Phi Beta Phi

• Arkansas, 1980
• United States Tax Court