Lee T. White, who has practiced law in Hopkinsville since 1975, didn’t believe he was the person his peers should have selected for the prestigious Judge Edward H. Johnstone Award.
“He told me he was embarrassed to received the award,” longtime friend Dan Kemp told dozens of Western Kentucky lawyers, judges and admirers who comprised a banquet audience that came Tuesday evening to honor White in his hometown.
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White’s humility might have prevented him from understanding why he was chosen for the award — but it is also one of qualities that resulted in his selection.
The award given by the Kentucky Bar Foundation honors the legacy of Johnstone, who practiced law for 27 years in Princeton before his appointment as judge at the U.S. District Court in Paducah.
Johnstone, who died in 2013 at age 91, is often remembered for a 1980 settlement that helped transform Kentucky’s “once medieval prisons into institutions now considered reasonably safe and humane,” Courier Journal reporter Andrew Wolfson wrote in a 2006 profile. But colleagues knew that Johnstone’s “greatest legacy [was] bringing humanity and dignity to the courtroom, treating every one with respect, from bank president to bank robber.”
White is the seventh recipient of the Johnstone award. The late W. Douglas Myers, also of Hopkinsville, received the award posthumously in 2018.
Kemp, an attorney and former Hopkinsville mayor, lauded White as a man who is smart, well-educated, ethical and hard-working — all qualities a good lawyer must possess. He said White also has the “moral compass” that a “great lawyer” must have.
“Lee White is also a friend when you need one,” said Kemp. Describing White’s encouragement for him during personal difficulties, Kemp said White often reminded him, “There’s always hope.”
A Hopkinsville native, White followed his grandfather, Stephen Pettus White, and father, Reuben Pollard White, in the family’s law practice, which was established in 1911.
Lee White graduated from Centre College and Vanderbilt University School of Law. He practices today with attorney Julia Crenshaw at White, White and Crenshaw on South Main Street. White’s practice includes health care and small business clients. He provides legal work on business transactions, wills, trusts and probate cases.
Among several civic projects he has supported, White is a volunteer with Christian County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates, better known as CASA. He is a former board member for the Hopkinsville Human Rights Commission, Sanctuary, YMCA and Heart of Hopkinsville. He was a founding member of the Pennyroyal Arts Council and served on the Board of Elders for First Presbyterian Church.
Also speaking on behalf of White was Logan Askew, who practice law with him for 22 years. White and his father hired Askew in 1981, right after he finished law school. He was the first person to join the firm who wasn’t a member of the White family.
Askew described many times when White offered wise advice. For example, after Askew decided to run for Hopkinsville City Council, White told him, “Be careful. It’s easy to spend someone else’s money.”
When a client called to say he thought Askew had billed for too many hours in a divorce case, White settled the dispute by telling the man, “You just pay what you think is fair.”
Askew also shed light on White’s sense of humor and wit, describing times when he was frugal and direct.
Once when Askew’s wife, Lynn, and their two young daughters stopped by the law office, White noticed they were making good use of snacks and drinks in the kitchen and asked Lynn, dryly, “You need any toilet paper or other supplies?”
If Askew was anxious about a case, White would say, “What are they going to do? They can’t eat you.”
Askew said he also relied on White as a friend. White has never failed to be available when Askew called on him for help or advice.
Eric Lee, CEO of Jennie Stuart Health, praised White’s legal work for the hospital going back to the late 1970s. He noted that White’s grandfather Pettus White, a graduate of Harvard Law School, provided legal counsel to the founders of Jennie Stuart Memorial Hospital when it was incorporated in 1913. And Lee White’s daughter, Kelly White Bryant, an attorney in Louisville, is the fourth generation in the family doing legal work for Jennie Stuart.
“Most of the people in this room consider [White] a friend,” said Lee.
Lee said he values White’s advice in challenging situations. Although he pursued law as his profession, White easily could have been a therapist or a psychiatrist, said Lee.
White accepted his award from Askew but did not make a formal address to the audience at the Bruce Convention Center. He spoke individually with numerous people who congratulated him at the conclusion of the program.
Hopkinsville attorney Jack Lackey Jr. nominated White for the Johnstone award and served as master of ceremonies for the banquet. The annual event is a fundraiser for the Kentucky Bar Foundation, which provides grants to nonprofits such as CASA.
The executive director of the foundation is Guion L. Johnstone, a granddaughter of the Edward Johnstone.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
