Professional Experience

Steve Lancaster has a commercial litigation practice, primarily in the areas of breach of contract litigation, trust litigation, engineer and architect defense, gaming regulation, ballot initiatives, title insurance litigation and general commercial dispute resolution.  Lancaster is the Managing Partner for Wright Lindsey Jennings and has been with the firm his entire legal career.

Lancaster’s more recent experience includes:

• Counsel for a national entity on Arkansas gaming issues, including casino regulation and mobile sports wagering.
• Counsel for a medical marijuana client challenging acts limiting the scope of an initiated Constitutional Amendment.
• Counsel for an international oil and gas company in litigation resulting from a release of oil from an interstate pipeline.
• Lead counsel for a ballot question committee in successfully challenging the sufficiency of a petition for an initiated constitutional amendment.
• Trial counsel for a national title insurance company defending against claims of lack of right of access to real property.
• Trial counsel for a limited liability company member in a breach of loyalty claim by another member seeking an accounting.
• Lead counsel in defending an architect against a breach of contract and negligence claim.
• Counsel for a nation-wide trust client defending breach of fiduciary duty claims by trust beneficiaries.
• Lead counsel in defending a national subcontractor in a claim brought by the owner of a commercial project.
• Counsel for a ballot generation committee seeking to amend the Arkansas Constitution.

Recognition

Lancaster is the firm’s Managing Partner as well as a board member for Potluck Food Rescue for Arkansas.

Since 2011, Lancaster has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America^© in the fields of Commercial Litigation, Bet-the-Company Litigation, Litigation – Real Estate, Litigation – Trusts and Estates and Litigation – Construction. He has been named the Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” in the fields of:

• Bet-the-Company Litigation, Little Rock (2023)
• Litigation – Trusts and Estates, Little Rock (2023)
• Litigation – Construction, Little Rock (2023)
• Litigation – Trusts and Estates, Little Rock (2021)
• Bet-the-Company Litigation, Little Rock (2020)
• Litigation – Real Estate, Little Rock (2018)
• Litigation – Construction, Little Rock (2017)
• Litigation – Trusts and Estates, Little Rock (2015)

Only a single lawyer in each practice and designated metropolitan area is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Lancaster has also been recognized by Mid-South Super Lawyers as one of the Top 50 Arkansas Lawyers and for his work in Business Litigation and by Chambers USA as a “Leading Individual” in the area of General Commercial Litigation. He has received an AV® Preeminent™ 4.9 out of 5 Peer Review Rating from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, www.martindalehubbell/ratings.

Lancaster is a past chairman of the Arkansas Supreme Court, Committee on Model Jury Instructions – Civil which is responsible for drafting model instructions for civil litigation in the State of Arkansas. Prior to practicing law, he worked as a Senior Consultant for KPMG Peat Marwick in Houston, Texas.

Community Involvement

Lancaster serves on the board of Potluck Food Rescue for Arkansas, which saves good food from going to waste and provides it to those who need it most. Potluck serves area hunger relief agencies rather than individuals, picking up food from grocers, caterers, large commercial kitchens (like hospitals and schools), and events of all sizes. All donations that are not frozen are redistributed within 24 to 48 hours. Potluck has been serving Central Arkansas for more than 30 years.