J. Cliff McKinney II

Cliff McKinney is a nationally recognized real estate attorney with more than 20 years of experience advising sophisticated clients in complex real estate, land use, and business transactions across Arkansas and the mid-South. Cliff is part of the firm’s real estate practice, representing Fortune 500 companies, institutional investors, developers, and high-net-worth individuals in multimillion-dollar deals, entitlement strategy, and regulatory compliance.

Cliff’s transactional experience spans the acquisition, development, leasing, and disposition of office towers, shopping centers, mixed-use developments, agricultural tracts, and industrial properties. He regularly advises clients on quiet title issues, easement relocations, restrictive covenant modifications, and other complex title matters. His land use and zoning practice includes handling rezonings, special use permits, platting, and subdivision approvals. He also assists clients with site selection, permitting, and operational compliance for regulated uses such as hospitality, restaurant, and alcohol-related enterprises.

Cliff frequently advises on real estate development projects that implicate federal, state, and local permitting and environmental regulations, including the Clean Water Act (Section 404 permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), the National Historic Preservation Act (Section 106 compliance), and guiding clients through floodplain development issues. In addition, Cliff regularly handles complex boundary line issues, adverse possession claims, and prescriptive easements, offering strategic counsel to resolve or mitigate title risk and facilitate closing in high-stakes transactions.

Cliff is a Commissioner for the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), where he holds national leadership roles on real property reform. He currently serves as Chair of the Study Committee on Deed Fraud. His work with the ULC reflects his national stature in the field and his influence in shaping model real estate laws adopted across multiple jurisdictions. He also serves on the ULC’s Legislative Council, the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Real Property Acts, and several study and drafting committees addressing emerging real estate and business law issues.

Cliff chairs the Arkansas Bar Association Real Estate Law Section and leads the editorial committee for the state’s Standards for Examination of Real Estate Titles. He is a Fellow of both the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, and he is a frequent CLE speaker and author on real estate law topics.

Since 2007, Cliff has served as an adjunct professor at the UA Little Rock Bowen School of Law, where he teaches Real Estate Finance and Real Estate Transactions. He has testified before the Arkansas General Assembly on numerous occasions and has been appointed three times as a Special Associate Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

He is licensed to practice in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.

Recognition
Chambers USA (2010-Present)
Best Lawyers in America® (2016-Present)
Super Lawyers (2008-Present)
Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent®

Associations and Affiliations
Fellow, American College of Real Estate Lawyers
Fellow, American College of Mortgage Attorneys
Arkansas Bar Association – Board of Trustees, Real Estate Law Section Chair
Commission on Uniform State Laws (2017-present)
ICSC
Christian Legal Society

Community
Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation Board, 2017-Present (President, 2019-Present)
Salvation Army, Central Arkansas Area Command, 2018-Present (President, 2020-Present)
Arkansas Food Bank, Board of Directors, 2016-Present (Vice President, 2024-Present)
Old State House Commission (2016-Present)
Habitat for Humanity of Central Arkansas Board of Directors, 2010-2020 (President, 2015-2018)

Education
Southern Methodist University (LL.M., emphasizing Real Estate Financing, 2003)
University of Arkansas School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2002)
University of Arkansas (M.P.A., 2002)
Baylor University (B.A., 1999)

Publications (Partial List)
Chair, Standards for Examination of Real Estate Titles in Arkansas.

Digging Up Bones:  Archeological Compliance Issues in Retail Development, with Casey Rockwell, 46 Real Estate Law Journal 533 (2018).  

With All My Worldly Goods I Thee Endow: The Law and Statistics of Dower and Curtesy in Arkansas, 38 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 353 (2016).

Justice in the Hinterlands: Arkansas as a Case Study of the Rural Lawyer Shortage and Evidence-Based Solutions to Alleviate It, with Lisa R. Pruitt and Bart Calhoun, 37 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 573 (2015).

Arkansas, in Implementing Institutional Controls at Brownfields and Other Contaminated Sites (American Bar Association Book 2012).

Caveat Who?:  A Review of the Landlord/Tenant Relationship in the Context of Injuries and Maintenance Obligations, 35 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 1049 (2013).  

Adverse Possession and Boundary by Acquiescence in Arkansas: Some Suggestions for Reform, with Prof. Lynn Foster, 33 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 199 (2011).

Deed Covenants of Title and the Preparation of Deeds:  Theory, Law, and Practice in Arkansas, with Prof. Lynn Foster, 34 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 53 (2011).

Are You Trying to Imply Something?: Understanding the Various State Approaches to Implied Covenants of Continuous Operation in Commercial Leases, 31 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 427 (2009).

Factoring the Ambiguity: A Futile Attempt to Understand the Ambiguous Nature of the Integration Doctrine’s Five Factor Test, 31 Securities Regulation Law Journal 337 (2003).