Barbara Bonar

Barbara Bonar has more than 35 years' tenure as a licensed attorney and nationally recognized in all issues regarding employee/employer relations, including whistleblower claims, workplace standards, executive contracts, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, conflict resolution, wage and hour laws, employee benefits, and personnel policies & procedures. Barbara has been consistently rated by her peers with a Martindale-Hubbell "AV Preeminent" rating, the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards. For her accomplishments as a civil trial lawyer, especially in obtaining substantial jury awards for her clients in litigating whistleblower, sexual harassment and discrimination claims, Barbara Bonar is a tenured national speaker on trial techniques in workplace litigation. Barbara was founder and President of the Kentucky Employment Lawyers Association and has been active in several national organizations that advocate for employees on the workplace, including the National Employment Lawyers Association, Taxpayers Against Fraud, the National Whistleblower Defense Fund, and other local and state Bar Employment Law Sections. Barbara speaks regionally to Bar Association groups and Chamber of Commerce organizations on a broad spectrum of workplace issues and personnel topics. A certified mediator and arbitrator, Bonar has served on extensive local and regionally-recognized mediation and arbitration panels throughout the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati area, including twenty-five years on the American Arbitration Association (AAA) panel. Barbara served six years as the elected Governor to the Kentucky Bar Association Board, which is integrated with the Kentucky Supreme Court's Discipline Process. She subsequently served as Vice President, President-Elect, and ultimately President of the Kentucky Bar Association. While President of the Kentucky Bar, Barbara initiated and acted as Chair of the Commonwealth's first "Rule of Law Symposium" in 2008. Barbara has both her Urban Planning degree (1975), and her Juris Doctorate (1984) from the University of Kentucky. After clerking for Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens of the Kentucky Supreme Court, she began her employment law experience as corporate counsel for two separate insurance companies. She has also served as an adjunct professor in legal writing at Salmon P. Chase College of Law (1987 - 1992). Barbara Bonar's Bar Admissions include: Commonwealth of Kentucky (1984), Supreme Court of the United States (2003), United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, and the Court of Federal Claims (Washington, DC). Barbara is a current member of the Northern Kentucky Bar Association, and served for several years on the Board of the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys (Now Kentucky Justice Association) and on many Committees and Sections of the Cincinnati Bar Association, and the American Trial Lawyers Association. She has served as a Barrister with the Salmon P. Chase Inn of Court, on the Kentucky Governor's Commission on Small Business Advocacy, on several business committees for the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and on the Board of the Northern Kentucky Lawyers for the Poor for four years Awards and Honors Honors Martindale-Hubbell “AV Preeminent” rating

• Of Counsel

• Kentucky Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens, Law Clerk, 1984
• Union Central Life, In-House Counsel, 1986 - 1988
• Kentucky Bench and Bar, Editor, 1994 - 1997
• Barrister with the Salmon P. Chase Inn of Court, on the Kentucky Governor’s Commission on Small Business Advocacy

• Various Employment Law Seminars, Kentucky Bar Association, 1989 - 1992
• Instructor, Legal Writing, Chase College of Law, 1987 - 1991
• Adjunct Professor in Legal Writing at Salmon P. Chase College of Law (1987 – 1992)

• North Kentucky Legal Aid,1988 - Present

• Kentucky, 1984
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky, 1990
• U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1990

• Kentucky Bar, 1990 - Present (Board of Governors)
• Kentucky Bar, 1990 - 1996 (House of Delegates)
• Northern Kentucky Bar Association (Member)
• American Bar Association (Member)
• Northern Kentucky Bar Foundation, 1995 - Present (Board Member)
• Northern Kentucky Bar Foundation, 1996 (President)
• Kentucky Academy of Trial Lawyers, 1997 - 1999 (Board Member)
• Kentucky Employment Lawyers Association, 1996 - Present (Co-Founder/President)
• National Employment Lawyers Association
• Kentucky Bar Association, Vice President
• Chair of the Commonwealth’s first “Rule of Law Symposium” in 2008
• American Trial Lawyers Association