Kentucky Law Review

Lawyers: "Bullitt lawyer enters state Senate race" from Courier Journal

Bullitt lawyer enters state Senate race

Shepherdsville lawyer John E. Spainhour is the first Bullitt County resident to enter the District 20 state Senate race.

LAWYERS: Louisville attorney and Kentucky Justice Secretary Brown paying back fed taxes

Bluegrass Politics Blog reports on a local Kentucky politician and lawyer with tax woes.  Taxing problems are not the exclusive domain of the Obama administration's appointees.   Here is John Cheeves link with a teaser comment:

Justice Secretary Brown paying back taxes
Kentucky Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown owes the U.S. government for underpayment of income taxes from his previous job as a Louisville lawyer. Brown said Thursday that he pays the Internal Revenue Service $2,933 a month in back taxes, penalties and interest as part of a 48-month settlement he entered several years ago. Brown said he does not recall the original size of his debt, but he still owes the IRS $6,398 in back taxes and $17,599 in penalties and interest before his payments end in December.

Bowling Green Lawyer J. Marshall Hughes Spends $355,205 of own money in legislative loss

Jake Payne at the PageOne Blog pointed to the Kentucky Gazette for the following story on Bowling Green lawyer's legislative campaign which cost over $300k of his own money in loss against Reynolds:

J. Marshall Hughes spent $407,464– $355,205 of his own money– on his losing campaign against Mike Reynolds. Reynolds spent $141,082– $53,000 of his own money. [Kentucky Gazette]

Lawyers: Jennifer Moore, Louisville attorney, steps down at KDP head

Louisville Attorney Jennifer Moore steps down as head of Kentucky Democratic Party, and sent the following email out. 

Jennifer Moore Writes Farewell E-Mail

By Mark Hebert

Democratic Party Chairwoman Jennifer Moore has written a farewell e-mail to democrats. The KDP will pick Charlie Moore, a relative of Jennifer's, as the new party chair this weekend. Here's Jennifer Moore's e-mail:

Dear ..........:

Fifteen months ago, when Governor Beshear asked that I serve as the Kentucky Democratic Party Chair, I welcomed the challenge and was appreciative of the opportunity to work with you. Traveling from Fulton to Pike Counties and everywhere in between, I have thoroughly enjoyed representing the Democratic Party across the Commonwealth.

As I prepare to return full-time to my law practice in Louisville, I have reflected on all we have accomplished together the past 21 months during my tenure as KDP Chair and Vice Chair. Together, we took part in an astounding renewal of the Kentucky Democratic Party. We helped elect Governor Steve Beshear, won five of seven special elections, and maintained every Democratic seat in Congress and picked up seats in the State House and State Senate. I believe firmly that we are now positioned to take back Senator Wendell Ford's seat in 2010.

Together, we did so much more than campaigns as usual. We concentrated on building the party from the ground up. We increased the number of Democrats who participated in the reorganization of the party from the precinct level to State Central to more than 5,000, many of whom are new to the party. We hosted a free training for all Democratic candidates, county chairs, and activists. We devoted a substantial amount of money to developing one of the best voter files in the country and providing that as an in-kind contribution to all Democratic candidates, a program unheard of in other states. We focused on being a party of inclusion by communicating regularly through our weekly email blasts, monthly electronic newsletter, talking points to elected officials and party leaders, and our redesigned website. And, in order to accomplish all of this, with your help we raised more than $3 million since December 2007.

We could not have done any of this without your leadership and the dedication and commitment of our Governor, Vice Chair Nathan Smith, elected officials, county chairs, and the entire staff at KDP. I have witnessed a desire for change that has made being your Chair one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

I will treasure my time serving as KDP Chair and Vice Chair, and I owe a special thanks to our Governor for having the confidence in me to serve as his administration's first party chair. I look forward to continuing to work with you to elect Democrats for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Jennifer A. Moore

LAWYERS: N. Ky. lawyer Wm. T. Robinson III seeking ABA Presidency

Frost Brown Todd press release:

Northern Kentucky Attorney Seeks American Bar Association Presidency
Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III

Kentucky attorney Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III of Florence, Ky., recently filed as a candidate for the presidency of the American Bar Association (ABA), which provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.

Robinson serves as member-in-charge of the Northern Kentucky offices of Frost Brown Todd LLC, a regional law firm with offices in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and Indiana. He recently completed his term as ABA Treasurer and has served the association for more than 20 years in various leadership roles including seven years on its Board of Governors.

If elected in February, 2010, Robinson would serve as president-elect of the association August 2010-2011 before his one-year term as president began in August 2011. With more than 400,000 members, the ABA is the largest voluntary professional association in the world with headquarters in Chicago and a branch office in Washington, D.C.

Robinson has also served as president of the Kentucky Bar Association (KBA), chairman of its House of Delegates and president of the Kentucky Bar Foundation. He is a past chairman of the Greater Cincinnati –Northern Kentucky International Airport and a past chairman of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

Robinson has received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions including the Judge Learned Hand Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, the Lincoln Award from Northern Kentucky University, the Themis Award from the Cincinnati Bar Association, the Outstanding Lawyer Award from the KBA and in 2006, the Oak Award as Outstanding Alumnus of Kentucky from the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education. He is a graduate of Thomas More College and the College of Law at the University of Kentucky where in 2004, he was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame.

Past ABA presidents from Kentucky have included John W. Stevenson of Covington, 1884, and L. Stanley Chauvin, Jr., of Louisville, 1989-90. Other officers from Kentucky have included Robinson, as ABA Treasurer, 2005-2008, and ABA Secretary Herbert P. Sledd of Lexington, 1975-1979.

For more information about the American Bar Association, visit www.abanet.org; for more information about the Kentucky Bar Association, visit www.kybar.org.

READ KENTUCKY: Louisville Attorney and State Rep Scott Brinkman

I liked some of these photos of Kentucky politico's and their reading efforts as portrayed at the state's web site.

First into the chute is local lawyer and legislator Scott Brinkman.

BLOGGER Ben Carter passing the reins running BlueGrassRoots Blog as he steps up his law practice at Legal Aid!

BlueGrassRoots.org blogger and lawyer Ben Carter is passing the reins of running that blog to others.  Ben began writing at the blog when he was a student at the University of Kentucky.  I met Ben a few years back when both of us attended (and matriculated!) from a one-week course by the AOC training us to be mediators!

Ben is now married and practicing law here in Louisville with the Legal Aid Society.  The picture to the left is Ben and his wife found at the Daily Independent.

Best of wishes to Ben, and here's a link to his fond farewell.

Ben Carter is an attorney with the Housing Unit of the Legal Aid Society. He focuses his practice on providing home-buyers representation at the closing table.  Ben is admitted to practice in Kentucky and Palau.  Prior to joining Legal Aid in September 2008, Ben worked in the Public Defender's Office in Palau and with the Franklin County (KY) Circuit Court.  Ben was also a Fellow at The Watson Foundation.

Here's their marriage announcement. 

Ms. Melba Keaton announces the engagement of her daughter, Erin Grace McKenzie, to Ben Carter, son of Nick and Mary Carolyn Carter. Miss McKenzie is also the daughter of Gregory McKenzie.

The bride-elect serves as a law clerk for Senior United States District Judge Henry R. Wilhoit in Ashland.

The prospective groom is a law clerk for Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate in Frankfort.

Miss McKenzie is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where she was an Otis A. Singletary scholar.

Mr. Carter is a graduate of Davidson College, where he was a William Holt Terry scholar.

Both bride-elect and prospective groom are graduates of the University of Kentucky College of Law, where each was a Bert T. Combs scholar.

Kentucky Court of Appeals Chief Judge Sara Combs will perform the marriage ceremony at Fern Hill Farm on June 2.

LAW FIRMS: Local law firms merging with Indiana firms

It's the time of year for Thanksgiving and turkeys; and it looks like some Louisville law firms are gobbling up some Indiana law firms:

From Business First are the following stories:

First, Cincinnati-based law firm Frost Brown Todd LLC is expanding its presence in Indiana early next year with a deal to acquire Locke Reynolds LLP of Indianapolis.  Click here for entire story.

And, second, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC law firm plans to merge with Indianapolis-based Ice Miller LLP on Jan. 1, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported, citing “several sources in the legal community.”  Click here for entire story.

LAWYERS: Ned Pillersdorf and how "I spent 30 hours listening to lawyers, arguing about boundaries and helping in the election of a new president"

I received the following story about Ned Pillersdorf, an attorney from Prestonsburg, who showed his commitment to fair and free elections as he traveled to Ohio to serve as a "Counselor for Change."

Here is the story from the Daily Yonder.  I have extracted part of the story Ned Pillersdorf wrote sharing his experience on this road trip for change. 

Speak Your Piece: The Election Seen From One Poll In Zanesville

My 30 or so hours spent in Ohio on election eve and election day as an attorney observer were filled with tension, tedium, frustration, comic intervention, hilarity and finally exhilaration and joy. It was anything but dull.

This journey began when I sent $100 and my contact information to the Barack Obama campaign in early February. After receiving hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from the campaign, one item caught my attention. I was offered the opportunity to be a “Counselor for Change.” This meant serving as a lawyer observer at the polls on election day in Ohio. The journey was enticing because I would be joined by the legendary John and Jean Rosenberg of Prestonsburg, Kentucky, veterans of the civil rights movement who worked for the Department of Justice in the early sixties. John actually filed the first voting rights act lawsuit against the governor of Mississippi, the day after President Johnson signed the law in 1965.

Our instructions were to join four hundred other lawyers at a synagogue in Columbus on election eve for poll observer training. Being in the same room with hundreds of other lawyers is an environment I consider to be roughly equivalent to torture. While I am a lawyer, and have been for more than 27 years, the truth is I can’t stand lawyers, especially lawyers huddled together. What do they talk about? Themselves, of course and the fact they have never lost a case, legal struggle, etc.,. When they finish describing their great legal ability, they talk about themselves, their cars and homes.

This gathering of lawyers was remarkably different. There was a palpable tension in the air and a laser-like focus on the task at hand: policing the polls on Election Day. Many of the lawyers were from other places. Rather than talk about themselves, there were intense discussions as to the intricacies of Ohio election law, and a general belief that the election would be stolen if we weren’t careful. There was also a serious, subdued atmosphere. This was Ohio of course, where four years earlier John Kerry lost the election.

Fittingly, the last speaker at the training introduced to us as Cam Kerry. He did not identify himself as or mention that he was the somewhat shorter brother of John Kerry. Instead he painfully reminisced about what had happened in Ohio four years earlier. While it has been four years, it was clear that to him, it still felt like the pain was inflicted four minutes ago.

I was assigned to Zanesville, Ohio, to be an outside poll watcher. (John and Jean were sent to Columbus). Zanesville is located about an hour east of Columbus. Zanesville is economically distressed, and had just been visited by Joe Biden a few hours before I arrived on election eve. The primary job of an outside attorney poll watcher is to monitor the anticipated long line and offer paper ballots to those who might have to wait too long and leave out of frustration.

I was at my post at 5:45 a.m. to find no line, but a steady stream of voters. Nothing was happening, so at about 11:00 a.m., I called the Obama campaign and asked for another assignment. The line was never long, and I felt I could be more useful elsewhere. Just as I ended the cell phone call, the adventure began.

All day I had observed a heavy set young woman hanging around in the parking lot handing out some type of pamphlet. Suddenly appearing on the scene were five or six young workers, wearing coordinated light blue t-shirts, who were also handing out pamphlets. The light blue t-shirters were a gay rights advocacy group, whose material was to promote a bill in the state legislature. I found their presence to make no sense. Unlike in the other states, there was no gay rights initiative on the Ohio ballot in this election cycle.

Predictably the Board of Election officials came out to chase these folks away, apparently for violating the 100-foot electioneering rule. I then spent the next ten minutes trying to referee what I thought was a humorous but intense argument about whether any or all of these folks were within the 100-foot boundary. Is the boundary measured from the polling place door? The flags outside? Or perhaps the machines inside the building?

Finally someone, and I’m not sure who, said, “They’re calling the Sheriff.” In that moment, summoning all of my lawyer’s skills, I announced that I had located the 100-foot line and urged all to stay behind. No one was happy. Everyone was mad. I must confess I thought all of the histrionics were comical. Minutes later, my cell phone began ringing and ringing. Our argument, boundary dispute, etc. had made its way up the levels of the Obama campaign. I abruptly ended the constant calls by declaring that I had resolved the situation, which was true to a degree.

Then the McCain people arrived. Two well-dressed women started handing out McCain stuff, behind the lines. Suddenly emerging from the McCain car was an older gentleman who was visibly and very angry. Then another car pulled up filled with new voters.

The angry McCain gentleman approached the voters from the front of the car. Big mistake. If he had looked at the rear of the car, he would have noticed the dozen or so left-leaning bumper stickers, and the hand written proclamation, “IMPEACH BUSH.” It didn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that these folks were there to vote for Obama. The angry McCain pamphleteer was oblivious to the political messages.

I would like to say that I used my lawyer listening skills and could relate the substance of the parking lot conversation/confrontation, but I can’t. The reason I can’t so relate is that I was convulsed with laughter at the political spectacle I was watching. The rest of the afternoon passed with the warring factions glaring at each other behind my improvised 100-foot barrier line.

Driving home to Kentucky that night, I could not escape the palpable tension and passion that I had observed in Ohio. After initial deep gloom I experienced when it was announced that Obama had lost Kentucky (badly), my mood was instantly transformed with the joyful exhilaration when Wolf Blitzer announced that Ohio had gone for Obama. From that moment my cell phone started ringing. My wife told me that at a Kentucky election party, someone had credited me with the Ohio victory.

There is exactly zero amount of truth to such a pronouncement. To even suggest it, is an insult to the patriotic, unselfish, determined and colorful folks I had observed working for Obama in Ohio. My reward was to have a front row seat to a very small slice of American history in the parking lot of that Zanesville, Ohio, precinct. As the Master Card commercial says, the value of my seat was “priceless.”

Ned Pillersdorf is an attorney in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.

PROSECUTORS: Mark Blankenship Appointed Commonwealth Attorney for Calloway and Marshall Counties

From the Murray Times and Ledger:

Governor taps Blankenship to fill Ward's post

By HAWKINS TEAGUE
Staff Writer

Gov. Steve Beshear has appointed Murray attorney C. Mark Blankenship as the commonwealth attorney for the 42nd Judicial District covering Calloway and Marshall counties.

“Mr. Blankenship has an exemplary record and he comes highly recommended by people in the region,” said Jay Blanton, communications director for the Governor's Office. “Gov. Beshear was pleased to make this appointment.”

Blankenship will be occupying the position previously held by Mike Ward, who resigned in August after pleading guilty to DUI charges in March and July of this year.

Blankenship said he would be sworn in by Circuit Judge Denis Foust this afternoon in Benton.

He said he had received a fax at his office yesterday informing him of the appointment and that he was excited to be taking the job.

He said that he and others in the community felt that the position should be held by a Calloway County resident and that he was thankful for their support and their lobbying to Beshear on his behalf.

“I always hoped to get the opportunity to hold this position and I'm going to do the best I can,” he said.

The position is a six-year term, but Blankenship said there were two years left in this term.

He said he hoped to bring a detective back into the commonwealth attorney's office, as well as have two assistant attorneys and two or three paralegals.

Blankenship graduated from Murray State University in 1974 and from the University of Louisville's Louis D. Brandeis School of Law in 1979. He has been a practicing attorney since then and was assistant commonwealth attorney from 1982 to 1987.

According to Ledger & Times archives, Blankenship was an associate and partner in the law firm Hughes, Gregory, Easley, Blankenship and Courtney. He established his solo practice in 1997.

Blankenship is a Murray native and has served as a public and federal defender and special domestic relations commissioner. At his current practice, he has handled cases across western Kentucky mostly dealing with school, employment, civil rights, criminal and real estate law.