The Hon. Dianna L. Hewitt Ladd is a judge for the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Arkansas. She was elected to the bench in 2020.
Prior to her election, Hewitt Ladd was a partner at Verkamp & Ladd, a law firm she joined in 2006. She supplemented her practice with service as the prosecuting attorney for the South Sebastian County District Court (2007 to 2020).
Hewitt Ladd earned a bachelor’s degree in non-profit organizational management from John Brown University in 1996. She then completed a J.D. at the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2000. She is admitted to practice in Arkansas (2001), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas (2001), the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas (2001), and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2001).
After graduating from law school, Hewitt Ladd entered into private practice. She worked as an associate at Walters, Hamby & Verkamp until 2006.
Her memberships have included the Junior League of Fort Smith, the Women with a Mission for the Mercy Health Foundation, the United Way, and the South Sebastian County Lions Club. She has also been involved with the Don Reynolds Crisis Intervention Center as a Sexual Assault Response Advocate.
Hewitt Ladd has been a resident of the River Valley for forty years. She and her husband, Jeff, have two children.