Stephen L. Barker
ATTORNEY/CERTIFIED MEDIATOR
Long-time Sturgill Turner member attorney and firm leader Steve Barker passed away on October 15, 2025, at his home in Lexington.
For the past 50 years, Steve has been an integral member of Sturgill Turner and an active and influential member of the Kentucky legal community. His is a true loss for our firm and for the Commonwealth. (Read more here.)
An experienced, AOC-certified mediator, Steve applied the wealth of litigation experience he acquired over the course of his legal career to help settle disputes in Lexington and statewide. He mediated in numerous areas of the law, including but not limited to employment, business, personal injury, and domestic relations.
Steve defended public and private employers, higher education institutions, and K-12 school districts and school boards for over four decades. His practiced counsel has been instrumental in helping employers, universities, colleges and schools navigate numerous high-profile legal challenges.
His successes in these areas of the law have not gone unnoticed—he was the 2025 Lexington Mediation “Lawyer of the Year,” and a six-time Best Lawyers in America® Lexington Employment “Lawyer of the Year.” Steve attended Advanced Attorney-Mediator Training through the Association of Attorney Mediators multiple times, and was inducted into the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
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Best Lawyers in America® Mediation Lexington Lawyer of the Year (2023, 2025)
Best Lawyers in America® Employment Law Lexington Lawyer of the Year (2011, 2013, 2016 & 2024)
Best Lawyers in America® Labor & Employment Litigation Lexington Lawyer of the Year (2014 & 2021)
Fayette County Bar Association Henry T. Duncan Award (2011)
Greater Lexington Paralegal Association Most Supportive Attorney Award (2015 & 2016)
Best Lawyers in America®: Mediation; Employment Law - Management; Labor & Employment Litigation; Education Law
Kentucky Super Lawyers®: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Schools & Education, Employment Litigation Defense
AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®
Litigation Counsel of America, Senior Fellow
United Educators Distinguished Counsel
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National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals
Association of Attorney-Mediators
National Association of College and University Attorneys: Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Section
American Bar Association: Employment Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections
Defense Research Institute
Fayette County Legal Aid: Director (1984-2009)
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Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment Matters, UK Law/CLE 16th Biennial Employment Law Institute (2018)
You Don’t Have to Go Home but You Can’t Stay Here, presentation for the University of Kentucky on the Americans with Disabilities Act (2016)
How to Conduct Effective Investigations, presentation for the UK Law/CLE Inaugural Biennial Education Law Conference (2015)
Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment Law Matters, presentation for the UK Law/CLE 14th Biennial Employment Law Institute (2014)
Addressing Complaints, presentation for the Education Law Association School Law Seminar: Legal Issues for Private, Religious, and Independent School Administrators (2015)
Mediation of Workplace Disputes: An Effective Approach for Municipalities, presentation for the 2014 Kentucky Municipal Clerks Institute
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University of Kentucky, J.D.
Order of the Coif
Kentucky Law Journal
University of Tennessee, B.S.
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Steve has been an active and influential member of the Kentucky legal community throughout his career. He has served as President of the Fayette County Bar Association, in the Kentucky Bar Assocation House of Delegates, and as Director for Fayette County Legal Aid for 25 years. In 2011, Steve was presented with the Henry T. Duncan Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Fayette County Bar Association, for his outstanding contribution to the community. The award is presented to an attorney whose integrity, leadership, and professional conduct serves to exemplify the high ethical and professional standards that benefit the community.