Deputy solicitor general leaving attorney general’s office

Noah Watson, Attorney General Tim Griffin’s deputy solicitor general, is leaving the attorney general’s office to enter private legal practice.

In a motion to withdraw as counsel for the state, filed last week in ongoing litigation between members of the Arkansas Board of Corrections and Gov. Sarah Sanders, Watson wrote he was “leaving employment with the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office and will no longer be involved in this matter.”

Word on the street is that Watson is joining his father, attorney Brett Watson, in a new law firm in Searcy. Business records from the Arkansas Secretary of State seem to confirm this, with Brett Watson and Noah Watson creating Watson & Watson LLP on August 25.

Watson, an alum of Harding University and Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, joined the attorney general’s staff in January 2023. Griffin named him deputy solicitor general in May 2025. In this role, Watson has largely been the in-court face of the state’s defense of lawsuits challenging legislation, FOIA litigation and lawsuits against Sanders.

He leaves state employment on good terms. In response to a request for comment about Watson’s departure, Griffin offered the following praise for Watson’s work:

Noah has been an invaluable member of our team, and we are going to miss him very much. He is exceptionally bright, a gifted writer, and, above all, a person of great character. He has handled himself with remarkable professionalism and grace, even in the face of the occasional criticism that comes with public service and being in the public eye. Noah has a very bright future ahead of him, and while we hate to see him leave the Attorney General’s Office, we are excited to see what great things lie ahead for him. We wish him nothing but the very best.