Gardner L. Turner

GENERAL COUNSEL

gturner@sturgillturner.com

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Gardner’s family has a long history with the practice of law in Lexington, dating back to the early 1800s. He was raised in Lexington and educated in the Lexington public and private schools, all the way through his 1954 graduation from the University of Kentucky College of Law. Gardner served as a special agent in counter intelligence before returning to Lexington to establish his legal practice. In 1957, he began practicing law with Don Sturgill and Roy Moreland, and together they founded the firm of Sturgill, Moreland & Turner—the precursor to the firm that is now Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC.  

Over the course of his legal career, Gardner has served the community in many roles—as City Prosecutor and Fayette County Juvenile Judge, through relationships with many civic groups and charitable fund-raising efforts, and on the boards of directors of local businesses. Gardner has been particularly active in church, taught Sunday school, served on the executive board and conducted church services.

Gardner has devoted his efforts to the Kentucky Bar Association in many capacities through the years, and in 2006 was named the recipient of the KBA Bar Service Award. Some examples of his involvement with the state bar include serving as chair of the KBA Inquiry Commission (the disciplinary arm of the Kentucky Supreme Court/Kentucky Bar Association) for 23 years, and sitting on the KBA Board of Governors and the KBA House of Delegates, the latter of which he chaired in 1982.

In 1991, he was honored with the KBA’s Outstanding Kentucky Lawyer Award, and then in 1995 with the Fayette County Bar Association’s Henry T. Duncan Memorial Award for distinguished personal and professional conduct and community service. Gardner has always impressed upon the younger members of the firm the duty of service: serving the firm's clients in a responsible, ethical and efficient manner, and serving the legal community—both bench and bar.

DISTINCTIONS

• Kentucky Bar Association Bar Service Award (2006)
• Fayette County Bar Association Henry C. Duncan Memorial Award Recipient (1995)
• Kentucky Bar Association Outstanding Lawyer Award Recipient (1991)
• Fayette County Juvenile Court Trial Commissioner (1968-69)
• Lexington City Prosecutor (1968-69)
• Continuing Legal Education Lecturer on Professional Ethics Seminars and New Lawyer Skills
• Kentucky Law Journal

MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS

• Kentucky Bar Association
• KBA Inquiry Tribunal and Inquiry Commission, Chair (1983-2006)
• KBA Board of Governors Member (1981-82)
• KBA House of Delegates, Member (1965-86), Chair (1982)