Karen J. Hughes is a life-long Arkansan and Little Rock native. Her only years away from Little Rock were her four years at the University of Arkansas earning a degree in Psychology. During summers at home from college, Hughes worked at a local insurance company where she turned down a full-time employment opportunity to pursue a law school career at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. While still in law school, Hughes was hired as a law clerk at Laser Law Firm. She graduated from law school in 1989 and was hired full-time as an insurance defense litigation attorney. Hughes practiced with Laser Law Firm for 15 years until she joined several of its former partners at Watts, Donovan & Tilley, PA in 2004. Hughes carried on her practice there until joining Smith, Williams & Meeks, LLP in the summer of 2013. In the summer of 2018, she became a partner and the firm became Smith, Williams, Hughes & Meeks, LLP.