February 18, 2021 (LOUISVILLE, Ky.) – Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC (SKO) is pleased to announce that
the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation (“LSC”) has appointed firm Member Palmer Gene (“Gene”) Vance II to the Leaders Council of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the country.
The LSC was established by Congress in 1974 and promotes equal access to justice and provides grants to legal aid organizations. The LSC distributes funding to 132 independent legal aid programs across the country, including the 4 legal aid programs in Kentucky. The LSC’s Board of Directors is appointed by the President and is statutorily required to be bipartisan.
The Leaders Council was created to assist in raising public awareness across the country on the justice gap and the need for more civil legal aid. It is co-chaired by Ken Frazier, the Chairman and CEO of Merck, Inc., and Harriet Miers, a Partner at Locke Lord LLP and former White House Counsel.
Vance practices in Stoll Keenon Ogden’s Lexington office and has been with the firm since 1995. A member of the firm’s Board of Directors, he is a member of the Business Litigation Practice Group, as well as the Tort, Trial and Insurance Services Practice Group, and the Intellectual Property Practice Group. Vance maintains an active trial and dispute resolution practice focusing on business and commercial litigation, products liability litigation, toxic tort litigation, copyright and intellectual property litigation, trucking and transportation litigation, and insurance coverage litigation. He serves as chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee.
An accomplished attorney, Vance has received an AV Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating© and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and as a Kentucky Super Lawyer based upon his experience and ability. He was recognized by his peers as the 2019 Products Liability-Defense Lawyer of the Year in Lexington by The Best Lawyers in America. He has also been listed in the International Who’s Who of Commercial Litigators since 2013.
Vance is a long-time legal industry leader. He is the Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Litigation, the largest section in the ABA. He has been active in the Section’s leadership since 2003, previously serving as the Section’s Revenue Officer as a Managing Director of the Section and co-chairing the Section’s 2009 Annual Meeting.
Since 2001, Vance has served in the House of Delegates of the ABA, and currently serving as the Kentucky State Delegate. From 2010-12, he served as Chair of the House Committee on Rules & Calendar. He has chaired or co-chaired two ABA Presidential Appointments Committees. From 2012-15, he served as Chair of the Council of the ABA’s charitable arm, the Fund for Justice and Education. He also is a member of the Board of Directors of both the American Bar Endowment and the American Bar Foundation. Gene is a member of the Defense Research Institute and the American Counsel Association.
In 2013-14, Vance served as President of the Fayette County Bar Association and has also held a number of positions with the Kentucky Bar Association, including as a member of the Board of Governors and as Chair of its Young Lawyers Division.
Active within the community, Vance serves on the Board of Trustees at Transylvania University, as Treasurer of Legal Aid of the Bluegrass and on the Advisory Board of the International Book Project. He is a past president of the Omicron Delta Kappa Foundation and continues as a member of the Board of Trustees. From 2011-13, he was Vice-Chair of the Lexington Fayette Police and Fire Pension Task Force. He previously served as a trustee of the Delta Sigma Phi Foundation and on boards of various other non-profits in Kentucky. In 2013, his community service was recognized with presentation of the Difference Makers Award from the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division.
