Hon. Barry Willett (Ret.)

Judge Barry Willett represented the citizens of Jefferson County as a distinguished Circuit Court Judge for 22 years before retiring on July 1, 2021. A native of Louisville, he graduated from Seneca High School, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. Before being elected to the Circuit Court bench, Barry was a respected trial attorney. The early years of Barry’s private practice were as a shareholder with the respected Louisville business litigation law firm Greenebaum Boone (“little Greenebaum”). During these formative years, Barry had the opportunity to defend national and international corporations in a variety of negligence and business litigation cases. He earned an “AV” peer-reviewed rating (highest rating awarded) from Martindale-Hubbell. In the early 90’s, Barry began to focus his practice on civil litigation representing individuals injured by the negligence of others. He handled plaintiff’s professional negligence, product liability, premises liability, wrongful death and automobile negligence cases. He was elected to serve as president of the Kentucky Justice Association (then named Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys) in 1997. He was appointed to serve as a Special Justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court in 1998. Judge Willett served three terms as Circuit Court judge from 2000-2021. He was elected by his fellow judges as the Chief Judge of the Jefferson Circuit Court for 2010-2011. Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton, Jr. appointed him the Chief Regional Judge for the Metro Region for 2010-2011. The Kentucky Justice Association honored Judge Willett with its Henry V. Pennington Trial Judge of the Year Award in 2017. As a circuit judge, Judge Willett presided over a consolidated group of thousands of claims pertaining to medical device-Medtronic In-Fuse litigation. Judge Willett completed a certification level civil mediation training course at the Duke University Private Adjudication Center in 1995. Judge Willett recently attended a comprehensive civil mediation training course offered by the American Arbitration Association (Mediator Essentials: Skills for Negotiating Facilitated Agreements, August 20-23, 2019, New York, NY). Judge Willett recently authored a chapter on Mediation and Arbitration for Kentucky Trial Court Judges published in the 2021 Circuit Judges bench book distributed to circuit judges throughout Kentucky.

• 1983 University of Louisville, Brandeis School of Law - Louisville, Kentucky, Juris Doctorate
• 1980 University of Kentucky - Lexington Kentucky, Bachelor of Arts (Political Science)
• Duke University Private Adjudication Center, Duke University - Durham, North Carolina, Mediation Certification Course (40 Hours)
• American Arbitration Association, Mediator Essentials – Skills for Facilitating Negotiated Agreements, Mediation Training Course (32 Hours) – New York, New York

• Admitted to Practice Before All Kentucky Courts
• Admitted to Practice Before The United States District Court of the Western District of Kentucky
• Admitted to Practice Before The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Admitted to Practice Before The United States Claims Court, Washington, D.C.

$400 Hour..