EMAIL: rajkovich@rwktlaw.com | Vcard
Marco M. Rajkovich, Jr., a native of Lynch, Kentucky, concentrates his practice in the areas of mine safety and health, mineral and energy and administrative law. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer - Mining, a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor and Certified Underground Mine Foreman in Kentucky.
Prior to formation of the firm, Marco was a partner with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP, serving as Co-Chair of its Mineral & Energy Practice Group, Chair of its Mine Safety Litigation Subgroup and also served as a member of WTC's Environmental Practice Group, International Trade Practice Group and the Finance Committee. Prior to his law career, he was with U.S. Steel Mining Company, Inc. serving in various positions in engineering as well as production.
Marco is a 1977 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering with the Mining Option and was a member of Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honorary. He is a 1987 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law where he was a member of the Journal of Mineral Law & Policy.
Marco is an author and frequent speaker at various mining industry conventions, meetings and seminars and a guest lecturer at the University of Kentucky College of Engineering, College of Law and the Chase Law School of Northern Kentucky. He is a contributor to The Coal Mining Reference Book (1997) and co-author of The Kentucky Environmental Law Handbook, Government Institutes (1991, 1993). Marco is authorized by the Kentucky Board of Licensure of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors as an instructor on ethics and minimum technical standards and has given national presentations on ethics for the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Throughout his career, Marco has been involved in representation of mining and land-holding companies in several mine explosions, disasters, major accident litigation and mineral law issues in both federal and Kentucky state courts, and administrative tribunals, some of which have gained national prominence. He has argued cases in front of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and the Court of Appeals of Kentucky.
Marco has served as an officer and director of the Kentucky Engineering Foundation, a Trustee of the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, Co-Chair of the Justice Committee of the Kentucky Appalachian Advisory Council, Chair of the Governance Committee and member of the Financial Council for the Catholic Diocese of Lexington, a lifetime appointee as Defender of the Bond for the Tribunal of the Catholic Diocese of Lexington, member of Regnum Christi, six-time recipient of the President's Award for the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers, Chair of the Professional Engineers in Mining Practice Group of KSPE, named in Best Lawyers in America, a Kentucky Bar Association Lifetime Fellow, and a member of several national, state and local mining industry organizations.
E-MAIL: williams@rwktlaw.com | Vcard
John M. Williams is a native of Loyall in Harlan County, Kentucky. John graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Business & Economics with a Bachelors of Business Administration (Finance) in 1984 and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1987. He is a member of the Kentucky, Fayette County, American and Federal Bar Associations. He has held several officer positions with the Kentucky Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, including President in 2000. On several occasions, he organized the Federal Bar Association's Introduction to Federal Practice seminar for new attorneys in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
John has extensive litigation experience in federal and state courts throughout Kentucky. Although his practice is primarily in mineral and energy and commercial litigation, John has experience in personal injury, construction claims, architect and engineer defense and collection matters. His experience in mineral law includes drafting and reviewing lease agreements, contract mining agreements and other transactions plus litigation of contract disputes, boundary disputes and personal injury matters. In the commercial litigation area, John has represented parties in business torts, lender liability and a wide variety of contract disputes.
John has served on the Board of Directors of Special Olympics Kentucky, Inc., serving as its Board Chair for two years. He was also on the Board of the Lexington Children's Museum, Inc, for almost ten years, during which he served as Board Chair for five years.
E-MAIL: kilpatrick@rwktlaw.com | Vcard
Melanie Kilpatrick practices in the areas of mineral and energy, employment law, and commercial litigation. She has authored articles and given presentations on topics of interest in the mineral and energy and employment law fields. She is experienced in arguing appellate cases before the United States Court of Appeals, the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. Ms. Kilpatrick has been admitted to practice before the Kentucky Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth and D.C. Circuits. She is a member of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce's 2005-06 class of Leadership Lexington. She is a member of the Fayette County, Kentucky, Federal and American Bar Associations. Ms. Kilpatrick served as Articles Editor (1995-96) and Staff Member (1994-95) for the Kentucky Law Journal. Ms. Kilpatrick served as law clerk to the Honorable Eugene E. Siler, Jr. on the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1996-97. Ms. Kilpatrick received her B.A. degree with High Honors in 1992 from the University of Virginia and her J.D. degree (valedictorian) from the University of Kentucky in 1996.
E-MAIL: true@rwktlaw.com | Vcard
Noelle Holladay True practices primarily in the areas of mineral & energy and commercial litigation. Her primary focus area is Mine Safety and Health Administration work. Ms. True is a member of the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, the Kentucky Coal Association, Coal Operators & Associates, the Women Lawyers Association, the Lexington Young Professionals Association, and the Fayette County, Kentucky and American Bar Associations. She serves on the Board of Directors for the New Opportunity School for Women in Berea, Kentucky and also for the Friends of Raven Run. Ms. True was a recipient of the 2004 Lexington Young Professionals Association "Rising Star Award." She received her B.S. degree with Honors in Finance from Indiana University in 1997 and graduated Order of the Coif in 2000 from the University of Kentucky College of Law. In law school, Ms. True was a member of the Kentucky Law Journal, in which she authored an article entitled "The Limited Fiduciary Duties Owed by Corporate Managers to Preferred Shareholders: A Need for Change." Recently, she has made presentations on topics of interest at mineral and energy law seminars throughout the state.