Ernest H. (Hank) Jones, II

Hank’s primary area of practice, prior to his retirement from the active practice of law, was civil trial practice in all aspects of insurance litigation, including motor vehicle accidents, premises liability (slip and fall cases and swimming pool accidents), catastrophic injury claims (brain and spinal cord injuries), products liability cases, arson and fraud claims, coverage analysis, and extra-contractual liability and “bad faith” claims. He has litigated cases in over 90 of Kentucky’s 120 counties and tried cases in over 60 of Kentucky’s counties, the United States District Court, Eastern and Western District Courts of Kentucky, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. Additionally, Hank has been engaged by attorneys state-wide for mediations both in-person and via Zoom.

Hank graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in December of 1973 and was admitted to practice law in all Kentucky state and federal courts on May 1, 1974. Between May 1, 1974 and December 31, 2006, Hank practice with the law firm of Geralds, Jones, Swisher and Rohlfing, PSC, (and its predecessor firms) until joining Sturgill, Turner, Barker and Moloney on January 1, 2007

Hank retired from Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC, effective June 30, 2021. While a member of Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, Hank mediated cases on a state-wide basis both in person and via Zoom. After his retirement from Sturgill-Turner, Hank has continued his state-wide mediation practice via Hank Jones Mediations, LLC (hjones@hankjonesmediations.com). His alternative dispute resolution practice will include mediations, arbitrations and 3rd party neutral allocation of aggregate settlements per the decision of Branham v. Stewart.

Hank received his mediation training through the Central Kentucky Mediation Center, which was a weeklong program and has annually attended continued education courses in alternative dispute resolution. Hank has presented multiple courses on mediations to the Kentucky Bar Association on Effective Mediation Strategy from the Attorney and Mediators Perspective, and the Kentucky Defense Counsel, Association of Attorney Mediators and Defense Research Institute on mediation issues. In particular, Hank presented at the 2018 Annual Convention for the Defense Research Institute on Ethical Issues in Mediations and to the Annual Conventions of the Association of Attorney Mediators in Santa Fe, NM., Indianapolis, In. and Charleston, SC.

Education

University of Kentucky, J. D. (1973)
University of Kentucky, B.S. (1970)

Bar Admission

Kentucky, 1974; U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky; U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit; U.S. Supreme Court, 1976

Affiliations

National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

Association of Attorney Mediators (Board of Directors 2021-present)

Kentucky Bar Association (Member of Ethics Committee 2001-present)

Kentucky Defense Counsel: Board of Directors (1984-1989, 1992-1999); President (1988-1989, 1997-1998)

Defense Research Institute: Kentucky Representative (2000-2002)

Kentucky Justice Association

Central Kentucky American Inns of Court

Fayette County Bar Association: Sergeant-At-Arms; Board of Governors (1975-1976)

National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

Association of Attorney-Mediators

Accolades

Best Lawyers in America® Insurance Law Lexington Lawyer of the Year (2014 & 2020)

Best Lawyers in America®: Insurance Law

Kentucky Super Lawyers®: Civil Litigation Defense, Insurance Coverage, Personal Injury Defense: General

AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®

DRI Exceptional Performance Citation (1989 & 1998)

Publications

Litigating the Declaratory Judgment Action, DRI’s In House Quarterly (Fall 2015)

Seminars

Your Losing Season – Don’t Let Ethical Issues Turn the Tide On You, Association of Attorney-Mediators Advanced Attorney-Mediator Training and Annual Meeting (2019)

Ethical Mediation, Kentucky Defense Counsel, Inc.’s Spring Seminar on the Art of Negotiation (2018)

Recognize an Unreasonable Third-Party Demand; How to Respond to a Potential Bad Faith Set-Up; Defenses in a Bad Faith Suit; and Ethics presentations for the National Business Institute’s “Insurance Bad Faith ‘Set-Up’ in Ky.” CLE (2018)

Ethics in Mediation, presentation for the Association of Attorney-Mediators Advanced Attorney-Mediator Training (2017 & 2018)

Mediation: Nuts & Bolts, Kentucky Bar Association New Lawyer Program (2017 & 2018)

Consent Judgments & Forbearance Agreements, Kentucky Justice Association’s Bad Faith in Kentucky CLE (2016)

Professional Responsibility: Dealing with Ethical Challenges in Your Practice, KBA Kentucky Law Update CLE (2015)

Voir Dire and the Art of Asking the Right Questions, Voir Dire & Jury Selection NBI CLE (2015)

Jury Selection Strategy, Voir Dire & Jury Selection NBI CLE (May 2015)

Social Media Use and Other Complex Jury Issues, Voir Dire & Jury Selection NBI CLE (May 2015)

Ethical Considerations in Jury Selection, Voir Dire & Jury Selection NBI CLE (2015)

The Upcoming Role of Mediation in Kentucky, KBA Kentucky Law Update CLE (2014)

Practical Tips for Jury Selection in Civil Litigation, KBA Kentucky Law Update CLE (2014)

Effective (and Ineffective) Mediation Strategy and Presentation from a Mediator’s Perspective, KBA Kentucky Law Update CLE (2013)