THE LBA IS TURNING 125 IN 2025! We’re excited to celebrate our rich history and the incredible members who have shaped the Louisville legal community. View a few ways to get the celebration started in our checklist to the right. On the previous page you’ll see a handful of blast-from-the-past photos and below is a story from the first paid LBA Executive Director, Judge Maria “Kitty” Meuter. We will be promoting giveaways, celebratory events and much more throughout the year so keep an eye on future issues of Bar Briefs, eBriefs, social media and your email. Do you have a story to tell? Share your historical information with Tess Taylor, LBA Communications and Marketing Specialist, [email protected]. Have a unique idea for our 125th? Get involved! Contact Marisa Motley, Chief Outreach Officer, to join the planning committee at [email protected]. We’re looking forward to celebrating with you! Editor’s Note: In 1900, there were only 178 members of the Louisville Bar Association. 125 years later, we have well over 2,000. During the first 50 years of its existence, the LBA was run by volunteer attorneys since there were no staff members. Judge Maria “Kitty” Meuter was the LBA’s first paid Executive Director (and Kentucky’s first female judge). Judge Mueter passed away in 2009. Below, read some of her memories from the LBA’s early decades, printed in a series of “The way we were” articles that appeared in Bar Briefs throughout the LBA’s centennial year. After World War II, the American Bar Association stepped up its program to encourage middle- sized bar associations to set up their own offices on the pattern of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. Attorneys in Louisville wanted to comply since many association and professional problems were taking too much time from the private offices of the officers and committee members. There were other problems facing the association. The profession and the Courts were in need of a law library in the downtown area. The only law library open to all attorneys was on Belknap Campus some miles away. There were two small law libraries in the downtown area. One was in the Marion E. Taylor Building. It was funded by the firms in that building and was for their use. The other library was slightly larger and was in the Kentucky Home Life Building at 5th and Jefferson Streets. This library was used by the attorneys who had a card of entrance and what it cost I was never told. I was told that the attorneys who had cards were selected. I also heard that the lady who worked at the library seemed to feel that the social register as she saw it should be the rule. This excluded a lot of attorneys and particularly newly admitted attorneys who were not associated with a large firm. The Louisville Bar Association had a very low budget and in the late 1940s it was hard to raise money. Most of those who had sufficient sums of money had the use of a library. Robert T. Burke was one of the men who felt strongly about this issue, and he headed a group who was trying to solve this problem. He did not live to see his dream become a reality but his son, Robert T. Burke, Jr., carried on and pushed hard for a library. He also devoted a lot of time to the library for the rest of his life. Finally, the groups who were pushing for improvements were able to solve their problems with the aid of the Circuit Court Clerk and the Fiscal Court. The Circuit Court Clerks in Kentucky were by law the County Law Librarians. Our Fiscal Court agreed to furnish space for the library and some equipment. The Fiscal Court would purchase books which would be of service to the Circuit Judges. (When presenting my budget, I always had to be able to show the Fiscal Court of what benefit the volumes would be to the Judges.) The Bar Association would select the Executive Secretary (later Executive Director). This person would also be the Law Librarian. The Louisville Bar Association and the Circuit Clerk would pay the salary. The Clerk would also employ a law student to help in the library in the afternoon. The Fiscal Court and the Louisville Bar Association would share the expenses of the books. It was several years before the Clerk would employ a secretary for the Librarian. With the help of donations, by 1952 the library was set up and some of the books in place. A retired army officer served as receptionist until a person could be chosen to handle the library and Bar Office. The committee to recommend· the Executive Secretary had a list of qualifications the first of which was an LLB. Luckily, I had been able to meet the qualifications as I had the LLB and had worked for the Federal Land Bank of Louisville for eight years. The last three years of my employment by the bank had been as a clerk in the legal department of the bank. On October 2, 1952, I was sworn in as Executive Secretary at the Louisville Bar Association and Clerk in the office of the Jefferson Circuit Court Clerk. I kept that office for 19 years. 11 Home to the LBA prior to 1999.
