FORT SMITH -- Senior U.S. District Judge Robert T. Dawson will retire at the end of the year after serving 17 years on the federal bench, according to an announcement Tuesday from the U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas.
Dawson, 77, of Fort Smith was appointed a district judge by President Bill Clinton on April 15, 1998. He took senior status on Aug. 14, 2009.
"Judge Dawson has carried a significant caseload while on senior status the last four years," U.S. District Chief Judge P.K. Holmes III said in a prepared statement Tuesday. "His service has been invaluable to the district judges in the Western District in helping to maintain a current criminal and civil caseload."
Holmes added, "Judge Dawson's tenure on the federal bench continued the long line of distinguished judges in the Western District beginning with Judge Isaac C. Parker in 1875."
Before being appointed to the judgeship, Dawson practiced law with the Hardin Law Firm in Fort Smith, beginning in 1965.
Over the years, according to the news release, Dawson has been honored for his service to the bar and the public. He is past president of the Sebastian County Bar Association, past president of the Arkansas Bar Association Foundation and Arkansas Bar Interest On Lawyers Trust Accounts Foundation.
He received the Arkansas Bar Foundation Outstanding Lawyer-Citizen Award in 1995.
During his time on the Western Arkansas federal bench, the release said, Dawson also assisted other federal district courts with their backlog in criminal and civil cases. He has performed judicial duties in federal courts in southern and western Texas, Nebraska, eastern Missouri, northern Iowa and eastern Arkansas.
Dawson also served by designation on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami.
Dawson earned his bachelor of arts and law degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He is past president of the university's Alumni Association, past president of the Fort Smith School Board and served as chairman of the Administrative Board and Board of Trustees of the First Methodist Church in Fort Smith.
Dawson has three children and four grandchildren.
Metro on 10/07/2015