---
category: Private Organization
created: 2026-09-21
location: Little Rock, Arkansas
start: 1820-11-01
summary: Little Rock law firm dating from 1820, counsel to the Stephens interests,
  Worthen Bank, and Systematics, whose partners Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vince Foster,
  and Webster Hubbell went to Washington in 1993.
tags:
- Organization
- RoseLawFirm
- Arkansas
- HillaryClinton
- VinceFoster
- WebsterHubbell
- StephensInc
- Systematics
updated: 2026-09-21
---

The Rose Law Firm of [Little Rock](/places/little-rock-arkansas/) traces its origin to a partnership formed on November 1, 1820, by Robert Crittenden, secretary of [Arkansas](/places/arkansas/) Territory, and the land speculator Chester Ashley. It took its present name in 1980 from Uriah Rose, a president of the American Bar Association. The state's reference encyclopedia lists among its alumni "one first lady of the [United States](/places/united-states/)," whom it does not name.[^1]

### Partners and Clients

C. Joseph Giroir, a securities lawyer who had worked at the [Securities and Exchange Commission](/organizations/securities-and-exchange-commission/), practiced at the firm from 1965 to 1988 and was its managing partner. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vince Foster, and [Webster Hubbell](/people/webster-hubbell/) were partners. In 1978, when [Financial General Bankshares](/organizations/financial-general-bankshares/) sued [Jackson Stephens](/people/jackson-stephens/), [Stephens Inc.](/organizations/stephens-inc/), and the bank data processor [Systematics](/organizations/systematics/) over the purchase of its stock for clients of the [Bank of Credit and Commerce International](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/), the firm appeared for Systematics. "Mrs. Clinton even represented one of Stephens's companies in a case related to BCCI," two reporters wrote in 1992. Foster later handled the Systematics account.[^2][^3]

Giroir sat on the board of [Worthen Bank](/organizations/worthen-bank/) with Mochtar Riady after the Riady and Stephens families took control of it in 1983. In April 1993 he incorporated the Arkansas International Development Corporation with capital from the [Lippo Group](/organizations/lippo-group/), and a House committee reported that the Riadys paid him between 350,000 and 600,000 dollars a year. [Newsweek](/organizations/newsweek/) reported that "through his Riady contacts" he "got involved in deals with prominent Indonesian businessmen, including Bambang Trihatmodjo, the second son of President Suharto."[^2][^4]

### 1993 and After

Hubbell became associate attorney general in January 1993, and Foster also went to Washington. Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park on July 20, 1993. The firm's members then "found irregularities in Hubbell's billings for 1989-92." He resigned in March 1994 and pleaded guilty that December, "admitting that he defrauded his former partners and clients out of at least $394,000."[^5]

[^1]: "Rose Law Firm," *Encyclopedia of Arkansas.* https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/rose-law-firm-2241/
[^2]: Obituary of C. Joseph Giroir Jr., *Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,* February 17, 2021; House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law,* H. Rept. 105-829, 1998, vol. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
[^3]: Truell, Peter, and Larry Gurwin. *False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, the World's Most Corrupt Financial Empire*. Houghton Mifflin, 1992, p. 428; Financial General Bankshares, Inc. v. Metzger, 523 F. Supp. 744 (D.D.C. 1981).
[^4]: "The Asian Connection," *Newsweek,* circa 1996.
[^5]: Office of the Independent Counsel, *Final Report of the Independent Counsel In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association,* vol. 3, part C, "Webster L. Hubbell's Billing Practices and Tax Filings." https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-3-2.pdf