Stoll Keenon Ogden’s managing director and chairman on measured growth, artificial intelligence, and his 40 years with the firm
Stoll Keenon Ogden’s managing director and chairman Doug Barr. Photo furnished
Founded in Lexington in 1897, Stoll Keenon Ogden (SKO) is one of the region’s oldest and largest law firms, providing legal counsel across 40 practice areas with offices in Kentucky and Indiana. This year marks Managing Director P. Douglas Barr’s 40th anniversary with the firm and his 10th year leading it.
During Barr’s tenure, SKO has grown from fewer than 50 attorneys to more than 150, expanding beyond Kentucky through a series of carefully selected mergers while emphasizing a consistent culture and client service.
Business Lexington spoke with Barr about the firm’s measured approach to growth, maintaining culture across multiple offices, and the lessons he’s learned over four decades.
SKO has grown significantly over the past decade, largely through mergers and acquisitions. What has guided that growth?
Next year will be our firm’s 130th year — a really long time. In my 40 years here, we have seen a lot of growth. When I arrived in 1986, I was attorney No. 49. Now we have more than 100 additional attorneys, and we are much larger in Indiana as well.
During the merger process, we found a group of Evansville lawyers who were significantly younger than we were used to. You could describe them as the “young Turks of Evansville.” We felt they were excellent, up-and-coming lawyers, so we expanded there.
There was also a three-partner, all-female law firm in Louisville that impressed us. We came to view them as great litigators. The same could be said for a small Jeffersonville firm that shared our outlook and our approach to serving clients.
In Indianapolis, we looked closely at many firms and ultimately chose one not because we needed them or they needed us, but because it was the right fit.
Why has Indiana become such an important part of SKO’s growth strategy?
We have grown in markets where we have demand from our current clients. The first merger I did was in Evansville. We have energy clients there and in Western Kentucky, so there was a demand for lawyers to be there and on the ground. That merger eventually gave us an office in Indianapolis.
We call it “controlled growth.” Many of our banking and business clients are already located in central and southern Indiana. We only want to grow to serve our clients, so they continue receiving the same level of service they have come to expect in Lexington and Louisville. No matter how or where we grow, we are still one firm.
Barr, center, with members of Stoll Keenon Ogden’s leadership team. Photo furnished
Culture is often cited as one of the biggest challenges when organizations expand. How has SKO maintained its culture across multiple offices?
Culture is a product of the things you do every day that are based on your values. Every organization has a few key values, whether it’s treating people with fairness or doing your best in your business dealings. Our North Star is that we value being great lawyers — in other words, the everyday pursuit of excellence.
In the legal profession, you will never achieve perfection because the law and the conditions it functions in change every day. Years ago, one of my mentors shared a quote that has stayed with me: “It’s not the will to win that matters — everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”
Looking back over 40 years with SKO, what are some of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
There is no substitute for preparation. Just none. There is no shortcut to being prepared for whatever the situation is. Most of my career has been in litigation involving businesses and intellectual property. You have to be prepared on behalf of your clients.
The methods by which we communicate have changed significantly. But I have learned there is still no substitute for face-to-face communication. While we can all be together from a lot of places at the same time through technology, face-to-face contact is still the best option.
“Our North Star is that we value being great lawyers — in other words, the everyday pursuit of excellence.” – Doug barr SKO Managing Director and Chairman. Photo furnished
You also oversaw the development of SKO Government Relations. Why did the firm decide to create that practice?
We started it because we have clients who need those services — not just legislative services, but executive branch services as well. We had long maintained an office in Frankfort to help clients without actually being lobbyists.
Eventually, we decided that instead of referring clients somewhere else, we should provide those services ourselves. We brought in two lobbyists, including Bill Lear, and split our Frankfort office into SKO Law and SKO Government Relations.
We’re not looking to become the biggest government relations shop in Frankfort. We want to be the most effective.
What do you see as the biggest challenge currently facing your clients and the legal profession overall?
One of the biggest challenges is getting a handle on artificial intelligence. We’ve invested in AI platforms and spend a lot of time training our lawyers to understand the AI-assisted practice of law. Everybody thinks it’s going to fundamentally change everything, and it certainly has that potential. I’ve spent countless hours trying to understand the different platforms and how they affect both the practice of law and the business of practicing law.
If you embrace it, AI can make you a much better lawyer, which is what interests me most. But I don’t trust it. That’s the lesson. It’s called artificial intelligence — not artificial experience, judgment, or creativity. That’s what our clients pay us for.
Our training is to make sure that any artificial intelligence-assisted output includes proper skepticism, testing, and intellectual rigor.
Barr at Keeneland. Stoll Keenon Ogden was founded in Lexington in 1897. Photo furnished