Among Bowling Green’s legal community, Charles English and retired Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton Jr. are recognized as peerless for their many accomplishments.

The two were honored Thursday evening at La Gala at a dinner organized by the Kentucky Bar Foundation, with English being named the inaugural recipient of the Chief Justice John Minton Jr. Award.

English, who is entering his 65th year in legal practice, was selected to receive the award by a committee of attorneys in the 2nd Judicial District, which covers a swath of southcentral Kentucky.

The award recognizes a figure in the legal community who best exemplifies Minton’s character, professionalism and commitment to promoting and advancing fair and impartial justice in the state.

“I am totally overwhelmed tonight, I have never seen such a grand and glorious group,” English said at the beginning of remarks that touched on many of his career experiences, including being appointed to represent defendants facing capital punishment in murder cases and winning an appeal in a civil rights case representing an Allen County doctor who claimed a county supervisory board unlawfully deprived him of his right to practice.

English is a founding partner in the Bowling Green law firm English, Lucas, Priest and Owsley, and he has specialized in business law and handled cases concerning universities and foundations as well as managing probate, trusts and estate cases.

He also served as local counsel for Fruit of the Loom, taught accounting, business law and communications for several years at Western Kentucky University and served as assistant coach for WKU’s debate team.

English’s distinctions also include receiving the Kentucky Bar Association’s Outstanding Lawyer Award in 1999 and serving as past president of the KBA.

His peers listed more of his accomplishments during Thursday’s reception while holding English out as someone who has not sought recognition or credit for himself.

English stressed how crucial it was for our legal system to maintain a sense of fairness and for the law to apply to everyone.

“Today as we are faced with the things that we are faced with in these times, we must be very careful and very mindful that the rule of law is all-important,” English said.

Minton said that the committee who chose English to receive his namesake award could not have picked a more fitting recipient, while English cited Minton as someone who served his state and community with distinction.

“I am deeply honored and humbled, really, that the KBF has chosen to create this award to be presented in my name and used to recognize and celebrate a lawyer from this district whose life and work has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to justice, equality, integrity, civility and public service,” Minton said Thursday. “Events like this are important to celebrate the extraordinary work in the practice of law and to remind all of us and the communities that we serve of the pivotal role that lawyers play in promoting and preserving the rule of law, which is foundational to a fair and orderly society.”

Minton served as Kentucky’s chief justice for 15 years, retiring from the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2022.

During that time, Minton oversaw investment in court technology that enhanced statewide access to the justice system, bringing electronic filing at the trial and appellate court levels to every county.

Minton also formed Kentucky’s Access to Justice Commission and the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health, and he also worked with the executive and legislative branches to carry out juvenile justice reform.

Under Minton, the state supreme court adopted uniform family court rules and juvenile court rules across Kentucky.

Before serving on the state’s highest court, Minton was a justice on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and served before that as a circuit judge in Warren County.

In addition to recognizing English and Minton, the dinner served to benefit the Kentucky Bar Foundation, which is the nonprofit, charitable arm of the state’s legal community, raising funds for grants that are awarded to law-related programs and projects throughout the state.

KBF executive director Susan Duncan said Thursday night that more than $60,000 had been raised through the special event.