ELPO Law co-founding partner presented with William H. Natcher Award

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP co-founding partner Charles E. English Sr. was presented with the 2024 William H. Natcher Award on Wednesday.

The award was presented by the Bowling Green-Warren County Bar Association during its annual Law Day Ceremony.

The award recognizes English’s 64-year career, during which he showed his commitment to “high ethical standards and a strong devotion to professional and civic responsibility,” according to a release by ELPO Law.

The William H. Natcher Award was established to annually memorialize the life and ideals of William H. Natcher and has been awarded each year since 1994, the release says.

ELPO Law says the award is presented each year to a senior member of the Bowling Green-Warren County Bar Association who embodies humility and high ethical standards, and whose life represents serving public interests over personal interests.”

Past recipients include judge John Barrett Rodes, judge Margaret Ryan Huddleston, attorney Ray Buckberry and fellow co-founder of ELPO Law, Whayne C. Priest Jr.

English is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law and has been practicing law since being admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1960. Upon returning to Bowling Green after earning his law degree, he served as the assistant coach for Western Kentucky University’s debate team and taught accounting, business law and communication while building his law practice. He remained on Western’s faculty until 1999.

English’s primary areas of focus throughout his career include business law, banking, business and estate litigation, business formation and condemnation. He has handled cases concerning universities and foundations, and regularly managed probate, trusts and estate cases.

According to the release, one of his most notable cases was acting as corporate counsel in the formation, organization, financing, construction and joint venture of a large ethanol manufacturing facility with a Fortune 500 company. He served as local counsel for Fruit of the Loom Inc. in federal court in various shareholder derivative actions against the company’s board of directors and officers, successfully defending Fruit of the Loom. English also served as chair of the Bowling Green-Warren County Hospital Commission and was instrumental in the conversion of the city/county hospital operation into a not-for-profit entity resulting in the creation of The Medical Center.

He has also served on many boards through the years, including the American Bar Association Board of Governors and served as chair of the finance committee. He is a former member of the ABA’s House of Delegates and the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. He has served on the Kentucky Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Judicial Nominating Committee and served as a member of Kentucky’s Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee. He is a life-time member of the Judicial Conference for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. English is also past President of the Kentucky Bar Association.