Bear Branch Appeals & Appellate Lawyers

Born and raised in South Carolina, I graduated from Clemson University in 1968 and joined the U.S. Navy. After serving in the Navy in Florida, Rhode Island, California (received Masters of Management degree at United States Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California); South Carolina, shipboard on the USS BLAKELY (DE 1072) with port calls in Guantanamo Bay Cuba, Port Au Prince Haiti, Charleston South Carolina, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada; Stavanger Norway; Copenhagen Denmark; Kiel Germany; and Brest France. Subsequent Navy shore duty in Charleston South Carolina; Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and St. Thomas....

Brent has been practicing law since 2008 when he became a judicial law clerk/staff attorney to the Hon. Jeffrey T. Burdette, Chief Judge, 28th Judicial Circuit, and Chief Regional Circuit Judge, Cumberland Region. As a law clerk/staff attorney, Brent worked on matters ranging from death penalty cases to will contests, business litigation, and property claims. Brent received his B.A. in English from the University of Kentucky and his J.D. from the Ohio Northern University College of Law. During law school, Brent became a member of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity and the American Constitution Society. He...

Noah Friend has spent most of his life in Pikeville, Kentucky, and graduated from Pikeville High School. He attended the University of Kentucky for his undergraduate education, where he majored in History. He then attended law school at the University of Kentucky, and graduated in the top 25 of his class. After completing law school, he spent over three years working for the United States Magistrate Judge in Ashland and Pikeville. Mr. Friend opened a solo practice in January, 2011, focusing on bankruptcy and consumer rights issues, as well as issues involving constitutional law. In 2012, he partnered with Christopher Hunt to form Friend...

Jeff began his legal career as a public defender in 2002. In his first felony trial, he earned an acquittal for his client. In 2005, He began representing the Commonwealth of Kentucky as an Assistant Attorney General. For the next ten years, Jeff was a special prosecutor and he tried cases throughout Kentucky. During that time, he was also appointed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney to assist with federal cyber-crimes prosecutions. As an appellate attorney, Jeff has briefed cases for the Kentucky Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, argued before the Court of Appeals, and handled habeas...

James M. Morris became licensed in Kentucky in May, 1995. James holds licenses in DC, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, and is also admitted by the United States Supreme Court, the Third Circuit, Fourth Circuit, Sixth Circuit, Seventh Circuit, Eighth Circuit, Ninth Circuit, and Eleventh Circuit, and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, as well as the Eastern District & Western District of Kentucky, Eastern & Western District of Michigan, Southern District of Ohio, Southern District of Indiana, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern, Middle, and Western District of Tennessee, Northern District of Alabama, Southern District...

Fayette District Judge 1982-1991 Fayette Circuit Judge1992-2002 Judge, Kentucky Court of Appeals2002-2003 Judge, Kentucky Senior Judge Ptogram 2003-2007 Of Counsel, Stoll, Keenon, Ogden 2007-2;017