UPIKE Newsroom

The University of Pikeville will present a virtual Judicial Speaker Series, March 25, March 30, April 1, April 6, April 8, and April 13, on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/upikebears. Sponsored by the Kentucky Bar Foundation, the series will feature a variety of attorneys who will educate the viewers on such judicial subjects as family law and consumer law as well as legal issues relating to healthcare. 

Attorneys will include:

• Born in Marion, Ohio, Keith Bartley was admitted to the bar in 1991 and admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky. He received his preparatory education at Pikeville College (B.S., 1988) and obtained his legal education at Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University (J.D., 1991), where he was an active member of the fraternity Delta Theta Phi. He served as assistant commonwealth attorney for Floyd County in 1991 and has served as county attorney for Floyd County since 1996. He is also a member of the Floyd County and American Bar Associations.
• Kathryn Burke is a third-generation graduate of the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. After graduating from law school, she served as law clerk for Justice James B. Stephenson of the Kentucky Supreme Court. After her clerkship, she entered into a general practice with her father. She later served on the state taskforce and Pike County taskforce for the establishment of family courts in Kentucky and was appointed as the first Pike County Family Court judge. She was also the first woman to be a circuit judge in Pike County. Afterward, she returned to private practice, where she practiced with an emphasis on family law, handling divorce, custody, and juvenile cases involving dependency, abuse and neglect of children. She has served as a member of the Kentucky Board of Bar Examiners and was a special justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court. In 2016 she left private practice and became a staff attorney with AppalReD Legal Aid in Prestonsburg.
• Jeremy Burnette is a seasoned healthcare litigator with substantial experience working within the complex regulatory framework in which providers operate. Burnette’s practice focuses on representing healthcare providers in a variety of complex litigation matters and disputes, including whistleblower or government investigations or claims, state licensure board investigations or enforcement actions, government or private payor audit and recoupment actions, medical staff matters, practice dissolutions and commercial disputes. Burnette also advises healthcare providers in regulatory compliance matters and serves as counsel to providers’ internal compliance committees.
• Corey Crigger joined The Phia Group’s team in 2019 as an attorney with the Provider Relations team. His mission is to assist with disputes arising from or related to disputes between plans, participants, and providers, as well as combat excessive medical bills and balance bill negotiation. Before joining The Phia Group, Crigger was a litigation attorney for The Rawlings Company. He dealt mainly with the subrogation rights of Medicare Advantage plans and state Medicaid plans. Along with being a litigation attorney, he also managed a subrogation and recovery team. Since joining The Phia Group, Crigger has moved into a leadership role in the Kentucky office. Crigger attended the University of Pikeville, earning his B.S. in history and political science. He then attended Liberty University School of Law, graduating with a concentration in Trial Advocacy. Crigger is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
• Kristie M. Goff, senior staff attorney at the Appalachian Research & Defense Fund (AppalReD Legal Aid), handles a variety of legal issues, with a focus on public benefits (i.e., SNAP, Medicaid, HUD/Housing), as well as consumer issues such as foreclosure defense and bankruptcy. A Pike County native, Goff graduated from Pikeville College in 1999, where she majored in history and political science. She obtained her J.D. in 2002 from Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University and is admitted to practice in state and federal district court, as well as the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. 
• A lifelong Kentucky native, Alex Ward grew up in Johnson County and attended Johnson Central before moving on to Pikeville College and then the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he received his J.D. in 2003. Following law school, Ward moved to northeast Kentucky and began his litigation practice. He is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association and the West Virginia State Bar and is additionally admitted to practice in the Federal District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, the Federal District Court, Southern District of West Virginia and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America®; and has been selected for Kentucky Rising Stars List® and the West Virginia Rising Stars® List.