Flora Templeton Stuart is a personal injury lawyer with a personal mission: to help injury victims and share her success and experiences with her community. Having blazed the trail for women in law, her experiences tell volumes about a female lawyer breaking down barriers as a single mother. For decades, the empathy she learned from hardships is seen in her relationship with clients and her community.
Flora’s Background
Flora completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education at Western Kentucky University. As a strong advocate for education, before going to law school she was a teacher in the public-school system for seventh and eighth-graders. Determined to make a difference she attended law school at Northern Kentucky University at Chase Law School where she was one of the only females at that time enrolled. Flora was a single working mother who attended college and law school, paying her way as a waitress. Working nights and weekends while raising a small child with the demands of law school taught her the value of hard work and struggle so when our clients have trouble making ends meet while working, struggling to earn a living she understands. If a client has been seriously injured in an accident this can be emotionally and financially devastating.
Getting a Job as the First Female Lawyer in Bowling Green
Flora, after obtaining her Juris Doctorate (JD), moved back to her home in Bowling Green, Kentucky and applied for a position at law firms only to be rejected. She was told to “go home with her child”. A friend who had just opened a small practice gave her a place to start for which she is forever grateful. Still needing to support her young daughter, Flora worked nights teaching at the Bowling Green Business College while she practiced law during the day.
One day, a young lady by the name of Marla Pitchford came to her with no money asking for help because she had been indicted for performing an abortion without a doctor. This launched her career. At the jury trial Flora argued that Marla Pitchford was likened to Hester Pryne in the Scarlet Letter because she had been rejected by her fiancé when he found out that she was pregnant. The case received national and international media. Marla Pitchford was found not guilty due to temporary insanity. She had faced a possibility of 20 years in prison.
Shortly thereafter Flora was appointed Public Advocate in Warren County and served representing the indigent in criminal cases in countless trials to include death penalty cases from 1978 to 1982. Not only was she the first female attorney to open a practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky but she was the first female lawyer to try a case before a jury in Bowling Green. Flora is proud to have paved the way for women in law. Because of her recognition in the Pitchford case she appeared on Phil Donahue and Good Morning America. She has been quoted in several books to include Women and the Criminal Justice System by Katherine van Wormer.
Flora Strikes Out on Her Own
Flora is dedicated to helping people, making a difference in their lives. Since the day she opened her own law firm in 1982 she has been working for her clients not only to collect the recovery they deserve but to make their lives whole again. She is proud to have aggressively and compassionately represented those hurt in personal injury accidents. With over forty three years of experience Flora has expanded her team with a law partner, Kent Brown, paralegals, and legal assistants and is proud to have opened four offices in Kentucky and one in Tennessee to better serve her injured clients.
Flora’s Mission
Flora’s mission as a personal injury attorney in Kentucky and Tennessee is to first and foremost provide excellent service to her clients. She dedicates herself fully to each case she accepts because she knows a good outcome is essential to a person and their family. She’s proud to have recovered millions of dollars for seriously injured Kentuckians and Tennesseans, and she’ll continue to do so for years to come.
Giving Back to the Community
Giving back to her community is her passion. As a well-known attorney with an established career Flora Stuart has a lot to give, whether it’s her time, financial resources or her connection within the community. She is in a position to help her neighbors and that is something that she never takes for granted. As the past president of the Bowling Green Noon Lions Club, the founder of BG on Stage which is a youth theater providing young people in her community theater arts, a founder of Band Together BG, which is a fundraiser of local charities and Vice-Chair of the International Center of Bowling Green, she is making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate while expanding her love for art and education. Giving back to the community is the cornerstone of her career.
Visiting Schools
Along with her staff and mascots, Poppy and Pixie, Flora supports schools throughout Bowling Green, Glasgow, Greenville, Russellville and South Central Kentucky. One of the ways she reaches out to the local community is by visiting schools with Poppy’s Field Trip which recognizes students and teachers for their service and leadership. She also delivers much-needed school supplies.
Sponsorships
Flora Stuart’s law firm has been a major sponsor for charities, including Toys for Tots, Stuff the Bus, Kiwanis’ Thunderfest, Kids on the Block, the International Center, the Warren County and Barren County humane societies, Down Syndrome Buddy Walk, Edmonson County Food Pantry and numerous other charities and other organizations.
Theater
Having founded BG on Stage, a 501c charity, in 2020 BG on Stage having developed a reputation for excellence in theater arts merged with SkyPac, the premier community theater in Bowling Green.
Poppy’s Wave Parade
Another fun way Flora stays involved in the community is through Poppy’s Wave Parade. The purpose of the Wave Parade is to bring joy during difficult times, as well as to provide food, pet supplies, and books to those in need, such as first responders, the elderly, nursing home residents, humane societies, healthcare workers and other neighbors.
Scholarships
Flora Stuart recognizes the deep divide and inequality caused by racism in the U.S. Many black students and other students of color aren’t given the same opportunities as their white counterparts, keeping many from furthering their education and careers. To do her part in opening doors for students, Flora created the Juneteenth Scholarship and Breonna Taylor Scholarship. The firm will award a student $1,000 based on an essay about how they’ve made a difference in their community and their career aspirations. Essays are due by December 15, 2020 and the winner will be notified by January 6, 2021.
Mission Trip
In 2003 Flora Stuart and the Holy Spirit Catholic Church traveled on a mission trip to Jamaica to make a difference. This was an experience she will never forget which was very humbling.
Church
In church Flora has always loved music and enjoys playing violin and singing in the Holy Spirit Church Choir.
A Personal Injury Lawyer Makes It Personal
Day in and day out, personal injury attorneys see how challenging life can be. They deal with the hard stuff. But there’s a lot of room to do good, like raising money for charity, bringing theater arts to schools, making sure elementary schools have supplies, and so much more. Flora Stuart is a personal injury lawyer wo makes her practice personal and strives every day to help those around her.
Resources:
- https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/05/women-lawyers.html
- https://www.theskypac.com/education/bg-on-stage/
- https://www/icofky.com/
- https://florastuart.cocm/kentucky-personal-injury-lawyer/
- https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/van-Wormer-Women-and-the-Criminal-Justice-System-4th-Edition/PGM270001.html
