Bench & Bar July/August 2025

my family to attend Centre. My daughter, also a lawyer, was the fourth. Upon my Dad’s advice, I attended Salmon P. Chase College of Law. Of all of these places, I value Chase the most. It gave me an education and the ability to obtain a law license. That license has enabled my whole life, helped me raise a family and given me the opportunity to help thousands of people solve complex problems through the legal process. I see the central purpose of my life as helping people and the law has been how I pursue that purpose. Now, after over 30 years of practice, I run a litigation team of four lawyers and a paralegal. I am primarily

The forces of synchronicity launched me into bar service. The year my youngest child left for college, I was thinking about what I would do to fill all of space formerly dedicated to raising my kids. Bar service popped into my head. I saw it as another way of helping people. Unbelievably, a few days later a fellow lawyer gave me a call and asked that I consider running to be the President of the Northern Kentucky Bar Association. I said “yes,” I won and that was my start. Once my time with the NKBA was over, another person suggested I run for a spot on the Board of Governors. I thought that sounded fun. I called Melissa Black well and asked what I needed to do. I ran unopposed and started what has now been an eight-year journey to becoming the Pres ident of the Kentucky Bar Association. It still all seems a bit surreal. But I am excited about the opportunity. I strongly recommend bar service to all lawyers. It puts one in the middle of what is happening in your field and in the profes sion. One develops lifelong friendships with other great lawyers. You get to know the judges outside the courtroom. It is perfect intersection of service and professional life. The Young Lawyers Division is a great place to start. The YLD provides young lawyers with a pathway to leadership. They also have a lot of fun. The different practice sections the KBA offers are also super fun and full of opportunities. This question focuses on my journey and how I got here. To be clear, I give all of the credit for my gifts, whatever they are, and for this journey to God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I have prayed a lot over the years. I have prayed for success, my clients, redemption, a break, and many other things. All in all, it has worked out. My wife, Cari, also does a fantastic job of keeping me in line. It falls to the Board of Gover nors to address, more or less continuously, in cases of lawyer misconduct. Are disciplinary cases rising or falling expressed as a percentage of bar member ship? What part of its time does the Board of Governors spend

but all of the services the KBA offers. CLE, podcasts, updates, meeting reminders and many other things will flow through the App. I think it will be a game changer. This year Rhonda Blackburn started to deliver video updates to Kentucky lawyers. Her videos have received a lot of positive attention. Although less photogenic, I will try to follow in her innovative footsteps. On-demand CLE has been a tremendous success. Practitioners love this. This is a notable example of how the Board of Gov ernors has innovated to meet the needs of Kentucky lawyers. Can you describe the progress of your legal career, your fields of practice? Where were you edu cated? How, or perhaps why, did you get involved in bar service, and what has been the value of it for you? Do you recommend sustained bar service for the everyday practitioner? I went to high school at Covington Latin School. I graduated, as everyone who went there did, at the age of 16. I worked a year before starting at Centre College. I am proud to say I was the third generation of

responsible for originating the team’s work and supervising our efforts. For some cases, I am the lead attorney and for others I am a mentor/advisor. For a small Northern Ken tucky firm, we surprisingly have a national practice. I am currently litigating in Ken tucky, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina, mostly in federal court. A lot of our cases are in the areas of def amation and other reputational torts. But we also handle business disputes and pro fessional malpractice cases. The highest value case I am currently working on is for unjust enrichment. Most of my work is for the plaintiff, but occasionally, I will defend a case. I got here through mad determination. I just never gave up. I would describe my success as the result of a lot of grasping, striving, climbing, and praying. Even after some monumental losses and bitter professional setbacks, I have been able to brush myself off and get back in the game. I have also been blessed to collaborate with some great lawyers over my career. I learned from these lawyers how to try cases. I learned from my father how to keep my cool. I learned from my wife and children never to give up as I had to pay those bills. Necessity is a great teacher.

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