Bench & Bar November/December 2025

Alumni award recipients, from left, are Matthew J. Smith, Glenda J. Harrison, Lawrence D. Hilton and Susanne Mowery Cetrulo, with Chase Dean Judith Daar, Northern Kentucky University President Cady Short-Thompson and Alumni Council President J.B. Lind.

LAWRENCE D. HILTON Associate, Fisher Phillips, Charlotte, N.C. HIS CAREER PATH: Prior to joining Fisher Phillips, Mr. Hilton was as an assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana. His caseload included prosecution of multinational drug organizations, complex fraud, death penalty cases, human traffick ing, serial robberies and child sex trafficking. AT CHASE: As an adjunct professor, he has taught Voir Dire Strategies. BEYOND CHASE: He has taught course in prosecution ethics at Indiana University McKinney Law School and for undergraduates at Indiana University, Bloomington, White Collar Crime and Criminal Justice Ethics. He helps coach a student mock trial team at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. MATTHEW J. SMITH Executive Director, Global Insurance Fraud Summit; President, Insurance Law Services HIS CAREER PATH: After practicing as a sole practitioner in Florida, Mr. Smith founded a firm that later became Smith, Rolfes & Skavdahl, with nine offices representing insurance carriers. He represented insurers in approximately 43 states and saw more than 100 cases through jury trials. He left the firm in 2017 to lead the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, in Washington, D.C., which works to influence federal and state legislation on insurance fraud issues and to provide amicus curiae briefs to courts. AT CHASE: He is an adjunct professor, teaching Insurance Law. As a student he was chief justice of the Moot Court Board. BEYOND CHASE: He is president of Insurance Law Services, which provides expert witness testimony in insurance fraud, bad faith and coverage matters.

GLENDA J. HARRISON Executive Director, Kentucky Access to Justice Commission

HER CAREER PATH: Ms. Harrison began a career with Legal Aid of the Bluegrass, in 1975, as a social worker before enrolling in the Chase evening division. She became a staff attorney and later director of advocacy. She retired from Legal Aid of the Bluegrass in 2017 and became executive director of the Kentucky Access to Justice Commission, which the Supreme Court of Kentucky had created to expand individuals’ access to the courts. AT CHASE: She has been a guest lecturer and works with students who are pro bono volunteers at the Kenton County (Covington) Legal Help Center, one of three in the commonwealth created by the Access to Justice Commission to assist unrepresented individuals in civil matters. BEYOND CHASE: As Access to Justice Commission executive director, she has been involved in creating Legal Help Centers in Fayette (Lexington), Jefferson (Louisville) and Kenton counties, and has worked with the Faith and Justice Partnership with the Kentucky Council of Churches to help faith leaders identify legal needs within their congregations.

19 bench & bar