Skip to content
Featured Speakers Circle Judge VanMeter

Chief Justice (Ret.)

Laurance B. VanMeter Speaker for November 17th, 2025 Meeting

Laurance B. VanMeter, of Lexington, Kentucky, served on the Kentucky Supreme Court from 2017 to 2025 where he was just the third Justice to have served at all four levels of the Kentucky unified court system. His fellow justices elected him as Chief Justice of Kentucky beginning in January 2023. His term ended in January 2025 following his decision not to seek a second term on the Court.

Before his election to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice VanMeter served thirteen years as a Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, having been first elected in November 2003. He also served as a Fayette Circuit Court judge and as a Fayette District Court judge.

Prior to his judicial service, he was a partner in the Kentucky firm of Stoll, Keenon & Park where his practice included business organization and planning, estate planning, real estate, and taxation, largely with the equine industry. Chief Justice VanMeter served on or chaired various committees within the Kentucky judicial branch: Evidence Rules Review Commission, Civil Rules Committee, Kentucky Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education Commission, Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions, Board of Trustees of the Kentucky Judicial Form Retirement Systems, Ethics Committee of the Kentucky Judiciary, and Judicial Conduct Commission. In addition, he served as the Court of Appeals’ acting Chief Judge, and as its Chief Judge Pro Tempore.

He earned an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University with a major in history in 1980, and his J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1983. More recently, he earned an LL.M. degree, May 2020, from Duke University School of Law and, in July 2020, was elected to The American Law Institute. In 2024, Chief Justice VanMeter received the Kentucky Bar Association’s Distinguished Judge Award and his college fraternity’s Award for Distinguished Public Service. He was appointed to the Uniform Law Commission in May 2025.

UPCOMING SPEAKERS 2025-2026

PAST SPEAKERS 1954-PRESENT

2010-Present
2018-2019
  • September 2018 – William C. “Jack” Davis – “Loreta Velasquez, the Con Artist and Confederate Impersonator”
  • November 2018 – Kent M. Brown – “George Gordon Meade and the Gettysburg Campaign”
  • January 2019 – A. Wilson Green – “A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg”
  • March 2019 – Brian Steel Wills – “Inglorious Passages: Noncombat Deaths in the American Civil War”
  • May 2019 – Wayne E. Motts – “Fighting The Civil War: Historical Treasures Of The Conflict In The Collection Of The National Civil War Museum”
2017-2018
  • September 2017 – Alan Pell Crawford – “Mark Twain and the Civil War”
  • November 2017 – Bud Robertson – “When Did The South Really Lose The Civil War?”
  • January 22, 2018 – Ryan Wolford Blair – “Wild Wolf – The Great Civil War Rivalry”
  • March 19, 2018 – Peter Carmichael (Gettysburg College) – “I am almost sick all the time and half crazy:” The Fate of a Confederate Deserter After Gettysburg
  • May 21, 2018 – Vince Dooley – “Col. William Deloney: The Legion’s Fighting Bulldog”
2016-2017
  • September 2016 — John Stempel — General George H. Thomas, “The Rock of Chickamauga”
  • November 2016 — James I. “Bud” Robertson – “Robert E. Lee and the Quest for Peace”
  • January 2017 — John Hoptak – “The 48 th Pennsylvania Infantry and the Digging of the Petersburg Mine”
  • March 2017 — Barton Myers – “On Irregular Fields of Battle: The American Civil War’s Guerilla Wars”
  • May 2017 — Dr. Jennifer Murray – “Alabamians at Gettysburg”
2015-2016
  • September 2015 – Sue Boardman — “The Gettysburg Cyclorama: A History and Guide”
  • November 2015 — James I. “Bud” Robertson
  • January 2016 — Terrance (Terry) Winschel — “Shut Up As In A Trap: Citizens Under Siege”
  • March 2016 — Brian McKnight — “Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia”
  • May 2016 — Garry Aldeman —  “A Civil War Photography Extravaganza”
2014-2015
  • September 2014 –John Barr — “Loathing Lincoln”
  • November 2014 — James I. “Bud” Robertson — “Water: The Unknown Factor in the Civil War
  • January 2015 — Brig. Gen. Charles F. “Casey” Brower, IV (retired) — “Sophisticated Strategists: The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defeat of Japan”
  • March 2015 — Brig. Gen. Jack Mountcastle (retired) — “Desperate Days–the Battles Around Petersburg, 1864-65”
  • May 2015 — Hon. Frank Williams, retired Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court — “Judging Lincoln as a Judge”
2013-2014
  • September 2013 – Kent Masterson Brown Movie Premier – “The Southern Cross: The Story of First Confederate Battle Flag”
  • November 2013 – James “Bud” Robertson – “What America Has Forgotten: 1846 – 1861”
  • January 2014 – Luke Harlow – “Religion, Civil War Emancipation, and the Making of Confederate Kentucky”
  • March 2014 – Gary Matthews – “Thomas Hines”
  • May 2014 — Stephen M. “Sam” Hood — “The Lost Papers of General John Bell Hood”
2012-2013
  • September 2012 – David Blight
  • November 2012 – James “Bud” Robertson
  • March 2013 – Kenneth Noe – “Reluctant Rebels Who Joined the Army After 1861”
  • May 2013 – Brian Steel Wills  – “General George Henry Thomas”
2011-2012
  • September 2011 – R. Owen Williams, Ph.D. – The Constitutional Consequences of the Civil War.
  • November 2011 – James I. “Bud” Robertson – The Untold Civil War: Exploring The Human side of War.
  • January 2012 – Charles Bracelen Flood – Grant’s Final Victory.
  • March 2012 – Kent M. Brown – Secession: The Constitutional Remedy That Brought About The Civil War.
  • May 2012 – William “Jack” Davis – The Monstrous Regiment of Women.
2010-2011
  • September 2010 – Kent M. Brown – The Civil War: Kentucky’s Mercurial Political Course.
  • November 2010 – James I. “Bud” Robertson – The Centennial and the Sesquicentennial: Are They Compatible?
  • January 2011 – Allen R. Millet – Understanding Civil Wars: The American and Korean Experiences as Comparative History, 1850-1877 and 1945-1954.
  • March 2011 – Peter Cozzens – Cahaba: The Forgotten Prison.
  • May 2011 Anne E. Marshall – Censoring History: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Campaign Against Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

JOIN US TODAY!

JOIN US TODAY!