City Attorney's Biography

Kit grew up in Fayetteville and attended Fayetteville Public Schools from Washington Elementary through Fayetteville High School. Kit Williams graduated from the University of Arkansas and received his officer's commission in the United States Army in 1971. After 2 years of active service, Kit returned to Fayetteville and entered Law School from which he graduated with honors in 1976.
 
 Kit has taught law school, clerked for a trial judge and served as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Washington County for over 5 years. Kit Williams was elected to the Fayetteville City Council in 1992 and was re-elected in 1994 and 1996. Following 14 years of practicing law in his own firm in Fayetteville, Kit Williams was appointed Fayetteville City Attorney by the City Council and took office on March 1, 2001. Kit was elected Fayetteville City Attorney in 2002 and reelected in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
 
 Kit Williams served almost two decades as the Arkansas State Chair of the International Municipal Lawyers Association and has presented Continuing Legal Education programs for the Arkansas City Attorneys Association, the Government Practice Institute of the Arkansas Bar Association, and the Best of CLE in 2007. Kit has received a couple of awards from the City of Fayetteville for his successful litigation efforts on behalf of the City.  Kit has successfully represented the City of Fayetteville in several Circuit Court cases and  appeals to the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. 
 
 Kit and his wife Emily have two children. Aaron earned a Bachelors in History and a Masters in Teaching from the University of Arkansas and now teaches AP History at Bentonville High School. Aaron is married to Claire and is the loving father of Noah and Elijah. Ashley graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Arkansas and obtained a second degree in Television and Media Production from Evergreen University in Olympia, Washington where she is now employed as the Program Coordinator for the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education.  Kit's wife, Emily, served for several years as the Fayetteville School District's liaison for homeless school children, has a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Counseling, and has worked for many years with South Central Bloodhound Rescue.
 
 Kit and Emily have lived over three decades in their old family home on Mt. Sequoyah that has sheltered five generations of his family during the last century and is on the National Registry of Historic Places.
 
 Kit has twice rowed a personal raft 260 miles down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, canoed the Rogue River in Oregon and the Salmon River in Idaho, sea kayaked among the Orcas off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and hiked the Inca Trail in the Peruvian Andes to Machu Picchu with his wife. 
 
 "I am grateful to the citizens of Fayetteville for the privilege of serving my hometown first as a member of the City Council and now as Fayetteville City Attorney." - Kit Williams