In January, 2012, the Kentucky Defense Counsel, Inc.’s (“KDC”) Board of Directors met for an all day long range planning meeting at the offices of Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney in Lexington.  The meeting was facilitated by John Trimble of Lewis Wagner, Indianapolis, Indiana.  Additionally, two past presidents of KDC were in attendance:  Brad Hume and Craig Reinhardt.

The make-up of the KDC Board of Directors is four officers and two directors from each judicial district, per the original Bylaws.  It was decided at that time that the KDC Bylaws would be changed to reflect “Directors at Large” to get more KDC members involved.  The Bylaws have been amended to reflect this change. 

We had no committees. It was emphasized again that members really do want to be involved, and a way to get them involved is by having committees. The Board at that time agreed to the formation of the following committees:

• Bylaws Committee
• Membership/Relationship Committee
• Nominations/Awards Committee
• Trial Tactics
• Young Lawyers Section

At the KDC Board of Directors meeting held on Saturday, November 10, the Board agreed to the development of the additional following committees:

• Legislative Committee
• Publications Committee
• Social Media Committee

To learn more about each of these Committees, please go to Sections, where a more defined description of the group and its leaders are outlined.

The KDC Board of Directors met again on January 26, 2013 at the offices of Reinhardt & Associates to discuss strategic planning.  Since January 2013, we now have in place:

•   Amicus Committee

Other committees which KDC anticipates forming in the future:

• Judiciary
• Public Relations
• Insurance
• Products Liability
• Medical Malpractice
• Workers’ Compensation
• Employment
• Construction

Brad Case and Casey Call head the Legislative Committee and track sessions of the Kentucky legislature.  They will contact the KDC Board if any issue(s) arises which they feel we may want to become involved.

KDC learned in August 2014 that it was selected to receive DRI’s Rudolph A. Janata Award.  To be selected for this Award, the recipient should be a state legal defense organization that has undertaken an innovative or unique program contributing to the goals and objectives of the organized defense bar.  Kit Hornback, KDC 2013-14 President, and Kathi McKeown, KDC Executive Director, had the privilege of accepting the award on behalf of KDC at the Awards Luncheon held in conjunction with the DRI Annual Meeting in San Francisco.  The plaque received will be passed each year to the incoming President of KDC.

It is KDC’s intention to:

1. Be recognized as Kentucky's voice for the defense bar
2. Keep members active
3. Provide members with a quality organization
4. Obtain a higher profile, respect from the bar and judiciary

On January 24, 2015, Kit Hornback advised she would like to create an additional Committee, which will be self-supporting -- Women in the Law.

At the February 3, 2018 long range planning meeting of the Board, a new Mission Statement was approved, a Diversity Statement was adopted by the Board, and a motto "Common Defense/Uncommon Vision" was adopted as well at that meeting.

At a September 6, 2018 Board meeting, after a motion was passed, the creation of a Social/Community Outreach Committee, as recommended by Darrin Banks, was approved.

If you are interested in getting involved with any KDC Committee, we would like to hear from you.  Please contact either the Committee Chairman listed on the website, or the KDC office at (859) 338-4761 or admin@ky-def.org and we will discuss these opportunities with you.