Joel Cape, Esq.

Personal Introduction

I’m the first in my family to go to become a lawyer – actually the first one to go to graduate school. We raised cattle which I thought was really cool (still do). Growing up, I knew that I wanted to run my own cattle operation. But agriculture in the 1980’s was tough. Very tough. It left a mark, so to speak. My folks urged me on to college to get an education. While working towards a degree in Ag Economics, I completed a couple of great internships that sparked my interest in the law. One was for a bank in El Reno, Oklahoma which did quite a bit of Ag lending. The bank’s farm clients had complex financial issues, often made more complicated by banking regulations, and solving them was uniquely rewarding. The other was for David Boren, then one of Oklahoma’s U.S. Senators and a member of the Senate Ag committee. Working with the Senator and his staff was hugely enlightening, and I really caught the bug for the legislative process and Ag policy. During my senior year at Oklahoma State, I discovered the Agricultural Law program at University of Arkansas Law School and my path was set – I was going to practice agricultural law. So off to law school I went. Four years later I had two law degrees, a J.D. and an LL.M in Agricultural Law, and had passed two bar exams. I’ve practiced law since 1998, first in a large New Orleans litigation firm with outstanding attorneys. After several years of great experience (and rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina), I moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas to create the agribusiness practice that motivated me from the beginning. As I built this Firm, I had the privilege of serving as a Deputy Prosecutor for Madison County, Arkansas. I prosecuted felonies, misdemeanors, juvenile delinquencies, and assisted families needing judicial intervention with troubled youth. Prosecution gave me the opportunity to meet and address some of the most persistent dilemmas plaguing rural America – opioids and meth. I have a passion for finding solutions to tough problems in the business of agriculture and food. A common sense solution for my clients’ thorniest problems – that is the aim of this practice.