Stites & Harbison, PLLC, is a preeminent law firm based in strategic Southeastern locations and sought by business and institutional clients nationwide for sophisticated transactions, difficult litigation and complex regulatory matters.

Tracing its origins to 1832, Stites & Harbison is one of the oldest law practices in the nation and among the largest law firms in the region.

The firm's members include...

• a past president of the American College of Trial Lawyers

• eight fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers

• four fellows of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel

• two fellows of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers

• two members of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys

• two fellows of the American College of Construction Lawyers

• one fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers

• a former Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General of Kentucky, and

• two attorneys certified in business bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification.

Fifty-six Members of the firm are named in the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, and nearly 70 percent of the firm's Members and Counsel are currently listed as AV®-rated in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory®. Seventeen of the firm's attorneys are listed in the current edition of Chambers USA.

Stites & Harbison has nearly 260 attorneys and a support staff of nearly 300. The firm's attorneys are currently admitted to practice in 23 states and the District of Columbia; 15 are Registered U.S. Patent Attorneys.

The firm has offices in Louisville, Lexington and Frankfort, Kentucky; Jeffersonville, Indiana; Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Alexandria, Virginia; and Washington, D.C. The offices are networked and function seamlessly through use of the latest technology.

In 1999, Stites & Harbison combined with two highly regarded and well-established practices. The firm created its Atlanta office in May 1999 by merging with Varner, Stephens, Humphries & White. And, effective Jan. 1, 2000, Stites & Harbison merged with Kentucky's premier intellectual property practice, Wheat, Smith & Beres PLC.

Jan. 1, 2001, Stites & Harbison combined with the highly respected Nashville firm of Farris, Warfield & Kanaday, giving the expanded firm a regional footprint in four contiguous states and offices in three state capitals, two of the South's money centers and the region's most dynamic economies. And effective Jan. 1, 2004, the firm merged with the well regarded intellectual property firm of Larson & Taylor increasing its number of registered patent attorneys and expanding the number of attorneys in Stites & Harbison's Washington, DC, office to eight.

Commitment to quality service

Stites & Harbison has distinguished itself through its award winning, total client service program--a TQM effort linking the highest quality legal product with the highest quality client service--winning awards from the Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce (1994 and 1996), the Kentucky Quality Counsel (1997) and the Better Business Bureau's Quality 2000 program (1998). In October 2000, Stites & Harbison was the only law firm selected as a Finalist for the Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics by the Better Business Bureau of Louisville.

The American Lawyer recognized the firm as one of the leading law firms in America, as selected by 400 in-house counsel, and International Corporate Law selected the firm as the leading firm in Kentucky based upon a survey of 200 major corporations and financial institutions. In addition, Stites & Harbison is the Kentucky representative to the prestigious Southern Law Network, to Business Counsel, Inc. (http://www.businesscounsel.org/) and to The Harmonie Group (http://www.harmonie.org/), the national network of top litigation law firms.

Global Research rated the firm among the 50 best overall law firms in America. Stites & Harbison has served as Kentucky Reviser for the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest since 1917 and has received Martindale-Hubbell's highest, AV rating. In 2002, BTI Consulting Group recognized the firm for excellence in client service, according to a survey of General Counsel with Fortune 1000 companies.

Stites & Harbison was one of only 115 law firms selected and profiled in America's Greatest Places to Work with a Law Degree (Harcourt Brace, 1999). Over 170 law school administrators, alumni directors and career counselors from throughout the nation were interviewed for the book and asked where happy graduates work. In addition, the firm was named a family-friendly workplace in July 2000 by Greater Louisville Inc.

Copies of the firm's Reports to Clients are available.

Commitment to our communities

The firm actively encourages its attorneys to take leadership roles in civic and charitable work. Members of the firm have served on charitable and civic boards ranging literally from A to Z: from the American Red Cross and Habitat to Humanity to the Louisville Zoo. Nearly half of the firm's lawyers currently serve on at least one board or in a similar capacity, and the firm's staff shows the same kind of commitment.

Members and associates of the firm participate actively in the affairs of the organized bar and serve as members of its governing bodies and presenters for continuing legal education programs. Members have served as Presidents of the state, county and local bar associations.

For more than a dozen years, Stites & Harbison has contributed to local charities in each of the firm's cities to recognize and thank our clients and friends during the holiday season. In 2005 we broke with that tradition and combined our local contributions into one gift to Habitat for Humanity's Operation Home Delivery Fund. This fund will provide aid to the victims of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.

Stites & Harbison is managed by a Chairman elected by the Membership and a Management Committee of six other members elected for two year staggered terms by and from the partners at large. Reporting to the Management Committee are an Executive Director, committees of members and associates for Professional Personnel, which includes Recruiting and Professional Development groups, Marketing, Planning, Investments and Ethics.

Former or deceased Members of the firm include a United States Attorney General, a Chief Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals (now Supreme Court), numerous federal and state trial court and appellate judges, and a Master Commissioner of the United States Supreme Court.