KENTUCKY ACADEMY - Key Persons
Ann O'Malley Shake served on the Kentucky Courts of Justice, beginning in 1990 in the many divisions of District Court; in 1998 she was appointed, then elected to the Circuit Court (general jurisdiction); and in 2012 she completed her judicial service on the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
Providing mediation and arbitration services since 2007, she has mediated personal injury, wrongful death, business, real estate, decedent's estate, commercial code, employment/workplace, professional malpractice (both legal and medical), contract, corporation and debt collection disputes, over 80% of which have resulted in settlements. Arbitration matters have included nursing home, business, business dissolution, shareholder, securities and real estate disputes.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- NADN Executive Staff Member
Job Titles:
- Member of the State Committee
- Diplomate Member
- Professor of Law at NKU Chase College of Law
Mr. Stephens is a Professor of Law at NKU Chase College of Law where he served as dean from 1985 to 1992 and currently teaches courses in Evidence, Trial Practice and Mediation. His career includes 16 years of general litigation practice with Middleton, Reutlinger and Baird, Robinson & McElwee, and Greenebaum Doll and McDonald, PLLC.He completed mediator training at Harvard Law School and began serving as a mediator in 1996. Having mediated over 3500 cases, he was listed in the inaugural edition, and each edition thereafter, of BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA in the category of Alternative Dispute Resolution (one of 8 Kentucky mediators so listed) and is listed in Martindale Hubbell's Bar Registry of Preeminent Lawyers. In 2015, and again , in 2021,he was selected as "Lawyer of The Year" by Best Lawyers in America for mediation in the Greater Cincinnati Region. He brings to each mediation real solutions based upon his comprehensive knowledge of litigation, juries and verdicts, coupled with compassion, empathy , a "can do" attitude and a fervent commitment to resolution.
Job Titles:
- Chief Judge - Three 2 - Year Terms
Joe Mordino helps businesses and individuals involved in legal disputes get back to doing what they do best by removing roadblocks in the settlement process in order to fairly and efficiently resolve disputes. Joe Mordino is a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He has been trained as a mediator at Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies. His litigation and trial experience combined with his mediation training and experience help him solve problems and resolve disputes when possible.
Job Titles:
- Retired Judges Mediation & Arbitration
Judge James M. Shake served as Jefferson Circuit Court Judge for 24 years beginning March 1993. He was elected to three terms as Chief Circuit Judge in Jefferson County and Chief Regional Judge for the Metro Region, named Judge of the Year in 2003 by the Louisville Bar Association, Distinguished Alumnus by the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law in 2007, and the Henry V. Pennington Outstanding Trial Judge by the Kentucky Justice Association in 2009. He is past President of the Kentucky Circuit Judges Association and a Life Fellow of the Kentucky Bar Foundation. Throughout his career, he has been actively involved in judicial education. Judge Shake looks forward to offering his services and experience, enabling litigants to resolve disputes that might otherwise go before the Court or a jury.
Job Titles:
- Administrator
- NADN Executive Staff Member
Job Titles:
- Member of the State Committee
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the Kentucky Defense Attorneys Association
Pierce W. Hamblin is a partner in the law firm of Landrum & Shouse, LLP in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Hamblin has also been, and continues to be, an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University Kentucky College of Law. For the past 40 years, he has taught a course in trial work and trial tactics known as LITIGATION SKILLS to Senior Law Students at the College of Law. He also teaches another course to Senior Law Students at the Law School known as NEGOTIATIONS. He is a Top Ten Super Lawyer in Kentucky and holds a 30 year "AV" rating through Martindale-Hubell which is the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards. In 2006, Mr. Hamblin was inducted into the University of Kentucky Army College of Law Hall of Fame.
In 2000, Mr. Hamblin was appointed by the Johnson Circuit Court as a Trial Commissioner or Special Master to handle mass tort litigation in this Eastern Kentucky jurisdiction. He served in that position for several years, and is presently serving as Order of the KY Supreme Court on other special master cases.
He is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Kentucky Bar Foundation of the Kentucky Bar Association, and was the President of the Fayette County Bar Association for the year 2014. Additionally, he served as an Auditor for the Fayette County Bar Association and an Officer, serving as Secretary and Vice President.
Mr. Hamblin is a long time member of the Kentucky Defense Attorneys Association and the Kentucky Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is a recipient of the American Juris Prudence Award for both Property and Corporate Finance Law. He has been selected as a Best Lawyer of the Year for the past 14 years (2004-2018). He was recently named the 2014 and 2016 Best Lawyer of the Year for Mediation in Lexington by Best Lawyers of America.
Mr. Hamblin has spent the past 42 years litigating cases. He has tried cases throughout Central and Eastern Kentucky ranging from personal injury, wrongful death and product liability to medical/legal malpractice and municipal civil rights cases and police pursuit cases. He has defended multiple insurance companies in Bad Faith litigation throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He has been lead trial counsel for many insurance companies in this area of Kentucky, having been so for a number of years. He has spoken on numerous occasions to the Kentucky State Claims Association and many local Kentucky Bar Associations on the Law of Bad Faith, Trial Tactics, Opening Statements, Closing Arguments and Insurance Defense/Coverage Litigation. He has addressed the Defense Research Institute Annual Products Liability Conference on evaluation of Injury and Death Claims and opening statements for Defense Attorneys.
Mr. Hamblin is a trained and certified mediator through the Mediation Center of Central Kentucky. He has mediated over 10,000 large civil and medical malpractice cases involving multiple litigants since 1998. Mr. Hamblin was nominated and selected for the Best Lawyers in America, for multiple years, after an exhaustive peer-review study by lawyers in his specialties of mediation and arbitration. Since 2007, Mr. Hamblin has been designated as the Top 50 Lawyers in Kentucky by Kentucky Super Lawyers and Top 10 for 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Mr. Hamblin served as a Captain in the United States Army and Army Reserves with intensive training in the specialty of Military Intelligence. He was The Distinguished Graduate of the Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course provided by the Army for 1977, and he is certified both as a Tactical Intelligence Officer and a Counter-Intelligence Officer. He also received a degree in Military Law from the University Of Virginia College Of Law. Thereafter, he served as the Judge Advocate for an Army Training Brigade.
Mr. Hamblin has been a mentor for every law school in the Commonwealth for students participating in the Kentucky Legal Education Opportunities (KLEO) Programs. He has served in this program since its inception. This program provides guidance for entering law students from under-represented and diverse areas of the state.
He coached soccer, baseball, and basketball in the youth leagues of Lexington. He is married and has three of the best children in the world.
Job Titles:
- Senior Member of the Lexington, Kentucky
Robert F. Duncan is the Senior Member of the Lexington, Kentucky, office of Jackson Kelly, PLLC. He is a member of the firm's Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Duncan's practice has historically involved a wide variety of civil litigation with concentration on matters pertaining to doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers in medical professional liability actions, matters involving complex insurance issues, insurance bad faith, products liability and construction. He has extensive trial and appellate experience at all levels of State and Federal Courts. Bob has 40 years of litigation experience, has tried nearly 100 cases to civil jury verdict and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Since 1995, he has mediated in excess of 4,000 civil litigation matters, and mediation has become the predominant part of his practice.
Job Titles:
- NADN Executive Staff Member
- Accounts ( Semi - Retired )
Job Titles:
- Counsel to Goldberg Simpson
Stephen Smith is now retired as "Of Counsel to Goldberg Simpson", and entertains a Mediation and Arbitration Practice. For 31 years he headed the Construction Practice Group and worked closely with the Insurance Defense Group with complex construction related cases at Goldberg Simpson. He also maintained a strong Corporate Practice dealing with the everyday needs of his construction clientes. He began his alternative dispute resolution experience while serving as District Counsel to the Louisville Corps of Engineers involved with developing some of the first Mini-Trial procedures and Partnering Workshop philosophies in the nation.
He has been an active mediator and arbitrator for over 25 years. He serves on both commercial and construction panels in a variiety of national dispute resolution organizations.
As a mediator, he has handled many multi-party disputes including cases with as many of nine (9) subcontractor parties actively working to minimize their responsiblity. He has mediated cases for municipalities, non-profits, homeowners, builders, contractors and suppliers. He has been selecteed as an Arbitrator in private arbitrations by many of Kentucky's most prominent attorneys.
Job Titles:
- IT Manager
- NADN Executive Staff Member