Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3.16 71 Ronald "Reggie" Van Stockum Jr. private practice (Environmental Law) You have an interesting background of degrees. Not many lawyers have a Ph.D., right? "I am a biologist, and that is my great love. When I came home to Kentucky (after receiving his B.S. from Santa Clara University in California), I wanted to continue my education in biology, which I did, and when I got my degrees I decided to become an expert in the biology of my home and I didn't want to leave. So the opportunity arose to go to law school and I took it. And then when I got out of law school in 1979, the environmental movement was picking up steam and there were new laws coming on-line. The only place I could fnd a job doing law and the environment was with the state's (Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection), so I got my start working for the state as an environmental prosecutor. Back in those days, half of their load was coal and strip-mining cases, and the other half, in my case, was waste-management issues and Clean Water Act cases." Are you noticing trends in your feld? "To fnd, purchase and protect the sensitive landforms and habitats in the state, country and the world. And along those lines, I work with the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust to raise funds to purchase large portions of Pine Mountain in southeast Kentucky. A lot of people want to do something about the love of their environment, and one thing that can be done is to participate in the purchase of natural habitat. That's nationally and internationally. We're coming to recognize that we're losing the diversity of our life forms, and we must act to preserve those things as best we can." I know you work from your horse farm in Shelbyville. What would you do if you weren't a lawyer? "Well, I would be teaching biology, and I would be hoping to have a career at some level in music. I'm a singer/songwriter and I write what you'd have to call Americana music. And I also write fction — stories of magic realism. I've got two short stories and two novels up on Amazon right now, and one of them's set in Louisville. I was also part of a bluegrass band called Funky Groundwater." ADMINISTRATIVE LAW (99) Large Firms Kenneth S. Handmaker Middleton Reutlinger C. Kent Hatfeld Stoll Keenon Ogden Kendrick R. Riggs Stoll Keenon Ogden John E. Selent Dinsmore & Shohl Small Firms L. Chad Elder Elder & Good Brian R. Good Elder & Good ADOPTION LAW (105) Small Firms Kenneth R. Burgess Attorney at Law Mitchell A. Charney Goldberg Simpson Susan Anderson Crull Crull and Crull Laurel S. Doheny Pregliasco Straw-Boone Doheny Banks & Bowman Stephanie L. Morgan- White Goldberg Simpson W. Waverley Townes Mosley, Townes & Watkins ANTITRUST & TRADE REGULATION LAW (83) Large Firms John K. Bush Bingham Greenebaum Doll C. Kent Hatfeld Stoll Keenon Ogden R. James Straus Frost Brown Todd Small Firms John S. Reed Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice Matthew L. White Gray & White APPELLATE LAW (248) Large Firms Michael P. Abate Dinsmore & Shohl Brent R. Baughman Bingham Greenebaum Doll Bethany A. Breetz Stites & Harbison Walter L. Sales Stoll Keenon Ogden Virginia Hamilton Snell Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs Sheryl G. Snyder Frost Brown Todd Small Firms Kevin C. Burke Attorney at Law