Julie Mullenix is a lobbyist and legal counsel for Mullenix & Associates, a governmental relations and consulting firm she co-founded in 1999 with Ted Mullenix. She assists clients with legal needs and setting strategy associated with pursuing a legislative agenda and actively lobbies legislators to achieve her clients’ goals. Mullenix has represented Fortune 500 companies, professional associations, corporations, businesses and educational institutions.
She says Mullenix & Associates’ team of lobbyists, attorneys and communication professionals adhere to foundational principles of honesty, hard work, professionalism and a high standard of ethics.
She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas and a Juris Doctor from the W. H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
How did you get into this line of work? I worked with a trade association in the late 1980s that introduced me to advocacy work at the state Capitol. In 1997, I worked with Ted on several issues while he was still serving in the legislature. I was amazed at his energy and tenacity in dealing with issues that he found to be important. He was term limited in 1998 and left the legislature. We then jointly founded Mullenix & Associates in January 1999.
Biggest career accomplishment? The long-term relationships we have developed with some really great clients. When we started, it was not uncommon for lobbying firms to pick up clients prior to a legislative session, represent them for a few months and drop the relationship between sessions. To be truly effective, we thought we needed to provide them with full-time, year-round representation, and they agreed with us. We have represented about 30 percent of our current clients for 15 years or longer and more than 60 percent of our clients for five years or longer. We value these relationships and the new clients that our firm sees on an almost weekly basis as well.
Are there any state agencies you work more closely with? There is kind of an ebb and flow in our work with agencies. We might see an intensive amount of work with one agency or another at any point in time that changes as issues are resolved and other issues arise. I want to give a lot of credit to the people in our state agencies.We have some very talented and committed leaders in those positions. Ted and I are amazed at the great team Governor Hutchinson has built across the agencies and appreciate the opportunity to work with each one of them on behalf of our clients.
What do you enjoy most about what you do? PEOPLE. I love constantly meeting new and interesting people who have business to do with state government and learning about their issues. I love working with elected officials who care about our state and want to find ways to make it the very best place for their constituents to live, work and raise their families. Last, but not least, I enjoy the people Ted and I get to work with in our firm. We have a talented team who are very bright, creative and hard working. They make every day much more like fun than work for me.
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