Robert F. Houlihan, Jr.

Robert F. Houlihan, Jr. has practiced law in Kentucky since graduating from UK College of Law in 1974.  He first practiced at the Lexington firm of Gess, Mattingly, Saunier & Atchison doing general practice including a concentration in employer ERISA work.  Then, for several years, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Kentucky where he was the first chair prosecutor in a wide variety of criminal cases in Catlettsburg, Pikeville and London, Kentucky, including public corruption, major management-union strike violence, and organized criminal activity.

For the next 24 years, he was a trial attorney and partner at Stoll, Keenon & Park.  There, Bobby’s practice initially included defense of significant criminal prosecutions and trials, but evolved over time to  purely civil litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants.  He litigated, tried, and argued at state and federal appellate courts in significant cases in such diverse areas of law as breach of fiduciary duty, lender liability, legal and other professional negligence, civil fraud, various business torts, complex commercial litigation, partnership disputes, estate and will litigation, and personal injury. He defended numerous jury trials involving various claims of wrongful employment practices and discrimination.   From the early 1980’s until 2015, he was the primary attorney for the Lexington Herald-Leader in libel, Open Meetings, Open Records and First Amendment matters.

In 2004, Bobby joined a primarily plaintiff firm that was most recently Elliott, Houlihan & Skidmore.  There for the next 10 years, he litigated and tried significant medical negligence cases for plaintiffs throughout Kentucky.  He continued to represent the newspaper, and did defense practice on a selective basis representing lawyers in legal negligence cases and parties in complex commercial cases.

Bobby is now devoting full time to being a mediator, arbitrator and any role where he can help people, lawyers and courts resolve disputes.

Bobby was elected to the Board of Governors of the Kentucky Bar Association from 1985 to 1990.  He was on the KBA Evidence Rules Study Committee chaired by Prof. Robert G. Lawson, which led to adoption of the Kentucky Rules of Evidence in 1992.  He taught Litigation Skills and coached Mock Trial teams at UK College of Law from 2004 to 2010.  Several of his mock trial teams advanced to the final national competition and one was national runner-up in the Black Law Students Association Mock Trial Competition. Throughout his decades of practice, Bobby has taken special interest in mentoring younger lawyers.