J. Cliff McKinney is a nationally recognized real estate attorney and the Managing Member of Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull PLLC who has become a leading voice on the practical and ethical use of artificial intelligence in the practice of law. With more than 20 years of experience advising Fortune 500 companies, institutional investors, and developers in complex real estate, land use, and business transactions, Cliff pairs a sophisticated transactional practice with a nationally recognized focus on emerging legal technology.
Cliff writes and speaks extensively on AI in legal practice. He is the author of the multi-part Arkansas Law Notes series Prompt Engineering for Lawyers and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for Lawyers, which together address hallucination risks, prompt engineering techniques, professional responsibility, and best practices—including a model policy and training program for responsible AI use. His recent speaking engagements span the nation’s leading real estate and mortgage law organizations, including Deus Lex Machina: Living with Artificial Intelligence (American College of Real Estate Lawyers, 2026), Prompt Engineering for Transactional Attorneys (ABA RPTE National CLE Conference, 2026), Artificial Intelligence & Mortgage Law: A New Era Begins (American College of Mortgage Attorneys, 2026), and AI and Ethics in Banking Law(University of Alabama Banking Law Update, 2026). He also recorded AI in Law: Transforming the Practice of Real Estate Law with Generative AI for the American College of Real Estate Lawyers podcast and completed Vanderbilt University’s Prompt Engineering certification.
Cliff’s leadership reflects this focus: he serves as Technology Editor of the ABA’s Probate & Property magazine, Co-Chair of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys’ Technology & Innovation Committee, and a member of the ABA’s Joint Technology and Law Practice Group. He is also a Commissioner of the Uniform Law Commission, where he chairs the Legislative Council and the Drafting Committee on Deed Fraud, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys.
He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. He earned his LL.M. from Southern Methodist University (2003), his J.D. (cum laude) and M.P.A. from the University of Arkansas (2002), and his B.A. from Baylor University (1999), and is admitted to practice in Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
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