Forty Under 40: Matthew Carter, 39

Matthew Carter was drawn to his profession because of the variety of complex issues an attorney can grapple with.

Carter, a Greenwood native, is now involved with as complex and interesting issues as can be found anywhere in the world as senior associate general counsel for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

He moved in-house in January, but had done work for the company since 2003 while a partner at Fort Smith-based Warner, Smith & Harris PLC.

“I developed a real appreciation for the culture and admired the fascinating issues they deal with every day,” he said.

Upon graduating magna cum laude from Tulane School of Law in 1996, Carter clerked for a year in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

After a year at Burr & Foreman LLP in Alabama, Carter returned to Arkansas in 1998 to start with Warner, Smith & Harris.

While there, Carter worked on several high-profile white-collar cases, teamed with P.K. Holmes III, now the U.S. district judge for the Western District of Arkansas. Most significant was a two-month, anti-immigration trial involving Tyson Foods Inc. that resulted in the 2003 acquittal of the defendants.

“That was the pinnacle of my career in private practice,” Carter said.

Carter is an avid fisherman, and enjoys spending time at his fishing camp in the saltwater flats of south Louisiana.