Brandeis alum sworn in as new KBA president

Brandeis alum sworn in as new KBA president

The Kentucky Bar Association Convention concluded last week, with Brandeis alums and Law Club members “making a big splash,” according to Dean Susan Duncan.

Doug Farnsley, Brandeis Class of 1976, was sworn in as the new KBA president. His one-year term begins July 1.

Farnsley is a Member (Partner) of Stites & Harbison based in the Louisville office. He focuses on civil trial work, including the defense of product liability claims and professional and hospital liability claims. He has more than 30 years of trial experience, including more than 50 matters successfully tried to verdict. He has argued before state and federal appeals courts and currently serves on Stites & Harbison’s General Counsel Committee and previously served on its Management Committee. He has represented the 4th Supreme Court District of Kentucky on the KBA Board of Governors and chaired the KBA’s successful 2013 Convention.

Farnsley is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers. He has been named Louisville Area Medical Malpractice lawyer of the Year (2010) and Louisville Area Product Liability Litigation Lawyer of the Year (2011) by Best Lawyers in America.

Two Brandeis alums also won awards at the Public Defenders Luncheon, including J. Michael Brown (’79) and Leo Smith (’82).

Also, Justice William E. McAnulty Jr., who passed away in 2007, received the Nathanial Harper Award posthumously.

Those who aren’t our alums, but who are good friends of the school, were also recognized during the convention. Jeff Been, from the Legal Aid Society, received KBA’s Donated Legal Services Award, while Greg Haynes, of Wyatt Tarrant and Combs, won Lawyer of the Year. Haynes will be an adjunct professor next year.

Additionally during last week’s convention, Brandeis Professors Sam Marcosson and Grace Giesel gave presentations.

The KBA’s Board of Directors also created a task force last week, aimed at seeking additional funds from the Kentucky General Assembly to support more public defenders.

Insider Louisville reported that Farnsley could start appointing members to the task force as soon as next month. According to the publication, Kentucky’s public defenders took on 156,699 new cases in fiscal year 2014, equaling 472 new cases per year, per public defender.