Matthew J. Shepherd

Party

Republican

Past Service

House 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, Speaker of the House 2018, 2020, Speaker-designate 2022

Seniority

3

Religion

Southern Baptist

Occupation

Attorney

About Rep. Shepherd

Rep. Matthew J. Shepherd is serving his 8th term in the Arkansas House. He represents District 97 which includes El Dorado and portions of Union County.

Rep. Shepherd was the longest-serving Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives serving as Speaker from June 2018 to January 2025.  Shepherd lives and practices law in El Dorado at the law firm of Shepherd & Shepherd, P.A.

He was born and raised in El Dorado and graduated from El Dorado High School in 1994. Shepherd went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in History and Political Science from Ouachita Baptist University in 1998 and received his J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2001. He is a member of the Union County, Arkansas, Louisiana Bar Associations, and is licensed to practice in the state courts of Arkansas and Louisiana; the United States District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Arkansas, and the Western District of Louisiana; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Shepherd is the former two-term Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Joint Budget Committee, the House Public Transportation Committee, the House Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee, and the House Management Committee. Additionally, he serves as Chairman of the Arkansas Code Revision Commission.
Shepherd has received a number of awards and recognitions for his legislative service.

Shepherd is a member of the First Baptist Church of El Dorado, where he is a Deacon and Sunday School Teacher. He is currently a board member of the Arkansas Baptist Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado, and El Dorado Fifty for the Future, and serves as President of the El Dorado Boys & Girls Club Alumni Association and the Murphy USA Classic football game. He formerly served in the Arkansas Bar Association’s House of Delegates, and on the boards of Union County Habitat for Humanity, Hope Landing, the Union County Community Foundation, the United Way of Union County, and the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, and is a former member of the El Dorado Civil Service Commission, the El Dorado Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Union County Election Commission.

Shepherd and his wife, Alie, have three children.