GARDNER MILNER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant
- Office Administrator
Andrea Panneck, a native of Jonesboro, serves as the Office Administrator and as a Legal Assistant for the law firm. She has worked in the legal field for over 25 years. Andrea provides solid and reliable assistance to not only her co-workers, but to the firm's clients. She prepares estate planning documents, documents relating to probate matters, entity formation documents, and documents involving real estate transactions.
Andrea also oversees the day-to-day functions of the law firm. She is responsible for making the office run smoothly by interacting and greeting clients, answering the phone, scheduling appointments, ordering supplies, accounts payable/receivable, light bookkeeping, billing preparation, timekeeping, new client/project setups, transcription, and coordinating and meeting with salespersons and/or vendors.
Andrea and her husband, Mark, have two sons, two granddaughters, and two fur babies. They both enjoy traveling and spending time outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Managing Member
- Founding Principal and Managing Member
- Owner and Principal of Gardner Law Firm
Chris Gardner is the owner and principal of Gardner Law Firm.
Chris Gardner is the founding principal and managing member of Gardner Milner, PLLC. Chris also provides ongoing corporate and general counsel services to a number of companies and organizations, and previously served as Chairman of the Board of E.C. Barton & Company from 2011-2020. His practice focuses primarily upon commercial transactions and litigation, health care law and transactions, business law, finance and banking law, commercial real estate, and corporate law. Gardner was formerly a principal of the law firm of Womack, Landis, Phelps, McNeill & McDaniel in Jonesboro, and prior to that was corporate counsel to Entergy Power Group, a venture capital subsidiary of Entergy Corporation, one of the largest electric utility companies in the U.S. Entergy Power Group developed, owned and operated foreign and domestic electric power projects.
Gardner is originally from Paragould and graduated from Greene County Tech High School. He received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Arkansas State University and his juris doctorate, with honors, from the William H. Bowen School of Law, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is married to Dr. Shelly R. Gardner, and they have two children, Evan and Olivia. Dr. Gardner received her Doctor of Pharmacy from UAMS Medical School of Pharmacy in Little Rock and has been in the active practice of pharmacy since 1995.
In 2015, Gardner was appointed by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to the Arkansas Pollution Control & Ecology Commission. The Governor also appointed him to serve three (3) times as a Special Associate Justice to the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2015 and 2021. In 2017, The Arkansas Attorney General appointed Gardner to serve on the Arkansas Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission. Gardner is a member of the Craighead County, Arkansas, and American Bar Associations, having served as Program Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and President of the former.
Destiny Hillis serves as a Legal Assistant for Gardner Milner, PLLC, primarily working with Drew Milner in all areas of his practice. She assists Drew with client intake, estate planning, drafting deeds, leases, commercial real estate documents, and corporate agreements. She works closely with the Secretary of State and IRS to ensure compliance for new business filings. Destiny also handles general office maintenance and duties. She is committed to excellent service to clients and their attorney in navigating the legal process from beginning to end.
Destiny graduated from Arkansas State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration in 2020, and she joined Gardner Milner, PLLC in August 2022. In her free time, Destiny enjoys being outdoors with her husband and daughter.
Sara, a native of Nashville, Arkansas, graduated summa cum laude from Henderson State University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She went on to obtain a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 2019. Thereafter, she received an LLM in Taxation from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. She is a former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the Second Judicial District Drug Task Force. She also has associate experience in private practice.
Sara serves as Of Counsel at Gardner Milner, PLLC. Her practice primarily includes trust and estate planning, probate, corporate and partnership tax, tax-exempt organizations, and tax controversy. Sara is currently a representative on the Executive Council of the Arkansas Bar Association Young Lawyers Section. She is also Treasurer of the Craighead Bar Association and a volunteer advocate for CASA.
In her free time, Sara enjoys traveling, playing tennis, and spending time with her husband, John, and their dog, Sissy.
Job Titles:
- Special Events Coordinator
Shelly Gardner serves as special events coordinator for the law firm.
Shelly Gardner, a native of Lavaca, Arkansas, serves as special events coordinator for the law firm. While a doctor of pharmacy by training that still practices pharmacy on a part-time basis, Shelly's exuberant personality and charisma makes her the ideal person for planning firm parties, dinners, and social and special events.
Shelly is married to the founder of the firm, Chris Gardner. They have two children, Evan and Olivia. Shelly received her Doctor of Pharmacy from UAMS Medical School of Pharmacy in Little Rock in 1995. She and their daughter, Olivia, are avid equestrians and frequently show horses in the Arkansas Ranch and Stock Horse Association, National Reined Cow Horse Association, and the American Quarter Horse Association on a state, regional and national level. Evan is a lover of the great outdoors and has a passion for scuba diving.