Local women’s history, a look at Flora Templeton Stuart

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Moving here from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Flora Templeton Stuart has been a champion in the community and is still trucking along.

The personal injury lawyer said she went through many trials, culminating to make her a great lawyer.

“All that has helped me to connect better with my clients…” Stuart said.

Stuart recalled in sixth grade, she was diagnosed as dyslexic and having great trouble reading. She said she spent a year in a special needs school, which helped her better understand and relate to disabilities. However, the troubles did not stop there, with Stuart becoming a single mother in college after leaving an abusive relationship.

Stuart said after graduating from Western Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in education, she would then enroll in night classes at the Salmon P. Chase College School of Law, where she also faced some adversity – she says some professors weren’t receptive to women in law.

Graduating in 1976, she started off in the department of now Justice Kelly Thompson, where she would get her first big case.

Stuart has gone on to litigate other large cases, from death penalty to divorce, but set on personal injury after realizing she could make a big difference in people’s lives by helping them to secure large settlements.