Barbara has extensive complex litigation experience and focuses on commercial litigation and many types of business disputes. Her litigation experience includes contract disputes, fiduciary duty claims, lender liability, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, trade secrecy, and financial class actions in state and federal courts.
Over the course of her career, Barbara has appeared in all of the federal district courts in Kentucky, numerous Kentucky circuit courts throughout the state and courts of other jurisdictions. She has tried more than 50 jury trials in state and federal courts and handled more than 30 appeals to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, Kentucky Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
She is a past member of the firm’s Board of Directors and its Executive Committee.
Barbara was recently inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Law Hall of Fame, which recognizes distinguished alumni.
She is the 2012 recipient of the Fayette County Bar Association’s highest honor – the Henry T. Duncan Award. This award recognizes a member of the bar whose integrity, leadership, and professional conduct exemplifies the highest ethical and professional standards that benefit the community.
Barbara is listed in Best Lawyers® in appellate practice, Bet-the-Company, litigation and commercial litigation. She has also been selected by Chambers & Partners – Chambers USA® in commercial litigation, Kentucky’s Super Lawyers®, Kentucky’s Super Lawyers® Top 25 Women and Top 50 Lawyers in the State, and Benchmark Litigation as a “Local Litigation Star,” as well as a Top 250 Women in Litigation in the nation.
In 2009, she was selected as a “Leading Woman in Central Kentucky” by Business Lexington and the Lane Report’s “Top Women in Business.” She is a frequent speaker on litigation and evidentiary issues. She has previously served on the Joint Rules Committee for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky and on the Merit Selection Panel for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to recommend nominees for the Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky and on the Merit Selection Panel to select a federal magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky. She previously served as an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the Department of Justice’s Economic Fraud Commission.
