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ELPO Law Expands Into Western Kentucky
by Mandy Hicks
(June 2, 2022) – English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP (ELPO Law) announced today that after almost 50 years of office locations solely in Bowling Green, Ky that it will now be expanding its regional footprint into Western Kentucky with the opening of a new office in Elkton. Longtime Elkton-based attorneys Harold (Mac) Johns and Judge (Ret.) Tyler Gill have joined the firm of ELPO Law as of May 1, 2022, bringing decades of legal experience to the already established and well respected firm.
Mac Johns will be joining ELPO Law as Senior Counsel. Mac has been practicing law since 1982 and has 40 years of experience in General – Civil and Trial Practice, Real Estate Law, Probate, Personal Injury, Negligence, and Insurance Law. He is the former County Attorney for Todd County and serves as Counsel for the Todd County Board of Education, the Todd County Water District, Elkton Bank & Trust Company, and Drive Safe Kentucky. He also works extensively with the Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo).
Mac graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts and obtained his J.D. from the University of Louisville. He is admitted to the Kentucky Bar, the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Kentucky, the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
Mac is currently a member of the Logan-Todd County Bar Association, the Kentucky Bar Association, the Council of School Board Attorneys (former Director, Vice President, and President). Mac is a former member of the Kentucky County Attorneys Association (former Vice President and President). While serving as County Attorney Mac also served prosecutors statewide as a member of the Prosecutors Advisory Council. Mac was honored as Outstanding County Attorney in 2000. In 2020, Mac was appointed Special Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court by Governor Andy Beshear.
Mac began his career with the firm of Dillingham and Johns in Elkton. After becoming County Attorney, in his private practice, he has provided legal services to individuals and institutions throughout Western and Southern Kentucky while also for many years serving on the faculty of the Kentucky Prosecutors Institute.
Judge (Ret.) Tyler L. Gill will be joining ELPO Law as Of Counsel. Judge Gill is a graduate of the National Judicial College (Reno, NV; 1995 – Special Jurisdiction, 1997 – General Jurisdiction) and Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science. He received his J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1984. He is admitted to the Kentucky Bar, the U.S. District Court for the Western and Eastern Districts of Kentucky, and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
Judge Gill served as a partner with Gill and Gill and as a Business Law Adjunct Professor at the University of Kentucky Community College before assuming the position of District Judge for the Seventh Circuit Kentucky and then moving onto Circuit Judge.
Judge Gill was the Circuit Judge in Logan and Todd Counties for 24 years and District Judge for two years. He retired as Circuit Judge of the 7th Circuit in July of 2019 and became “Of Counsel” with the Law Offices of Harold “Mac” Johns. He now participates in the AOC Retired Judges Program which permits him to be assigned as a judge where needed upon Order of the Chief Justice. In March 2021, he completed the Northern Kentucky University Alternative Dispute Resolution Center Course. He then received the Administrative Office of the Courts Certification and meets the Kentucky Court of Justice Mediation Guidelines as a General Civil Mediator. Additional mediation training allowed him to be certified to conduct Felony Mediation.
Judge Gill has been honored with the Henry V. Pennington Outstanding Trial Judge Award and the District Judges Association Golden Gavel Award for Outstanding Legal Writing. He is currently a member of the Kentucky Bar Association and the Logan-Todd County Bar Association, and a former member of the American Bar Association, the Kentucky Circuit Judges Association, and the Kentucky District Judges Association. Judge Gill initiated the first “Drug Court” long term drug treatment program in Logan and Todd Counties and presided during the construction of new Justice Centers in both Logan and Todd Counties.
He is actively involved with Rotary International serving as a Paul Harris Fellow, past President of the Elkton Rotary club, past Assistant Governor to Rotary District 671, and participated in Study Exchange programs with India and South Africa. He is the recipient of the Rotary Foundation District Service Award and the Presidential Citation Award for Distinguished Service to District 6710. Judge Gill currently holds a commercial pilot license with an instrument rating and formerly served on the Counseling Committee for the Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative.
“We’ve always been proud to represent clients across the state of Kentucky, and this new physical location deepens our commitment to the Western Kentucky area,” said Bob Young, Managing Partner of ELPO Law. “Mac and Judge Gill are part of a small vanguard of Western Kentucky attorneys who have made a great impact in this area of the state. We are pleased to welcome these outstanding lawyers to our team, building on years of working together on meaningful, complex cases.”
Headquartered in Bowling Green, ELPO Law is the largest full service law firm in South Central Kentucky offering both business clients and individuals the depth of a large firm with the personal commitment and attention of a small one. With the capabilities to handle everything from complex litigation to protecting your most important asset, your family, the firm prides itself on the strength, knowledge and experience that only comes from decades of successful representation and the delivery of quality counsel.
“Having worked alongside ELPO Law many times over the years, I’m thankful for the opportunity to join a group of immensely successful attorneys who also share the same values and ideals,” said Mac. “I’m looking forward to this new relationship, and to continue to meet the needs of Western Kentucky with world-class legal expertise.” Judge Gill says, “It’s a pleasure to collaborate with people whose work you completely trust, and I look forward to our future together.”
Legal assistant to Mac and Judge Gill, Rachael Stevenson, will be joining with the ELPO Law expansion as well.
A Ribbon Cutting was hosted by the Todd County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, June 2nd with record-breaking attendance for the Chamber.
Find out more about Mac Johns here: https://www.elpolaw.com/attorneys/harold-mac-johns/
Find out more about Judge Gill here: https://www.elpolaw.com/attorneys/judge-tyler-gill/
