Background
CUNNINGHAM, BILL was born on October 15, 1944 in Eddyville, Kentucky, United States.
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Bill Cunningham
Edit ProfileEducation
Murray State University (Bachelor of Science, 1966). University of Kentucky (Juris Doctor, 1969). Staff Member, Kentucky Law Journal, 1968-1969.
Editor, Kentucky Law School News, 1969.
Career
He was elected to the Circuit Court Bench in November 1991 to serve the 56th Judicial Circuit, which consists of Caldwell, Livingston, Lyon and Trigg counties. He was re-elected in 1999 and served as circuit judge until January 2007. Cunningham served the court system in several capacities before entering his judicial career.
He was the Eddyville city attorney from 1974 to 1991 and public defender for the Kentucky State Penitentiary from 1974 to 1976.
He served as Commonwealth"s Attorney for the 56th Judicial District from 1976 to 1988. During his tenure in that position, he was voted the Outstanding Commonwealth Attorney of Kentucky by his peers.
Cunningham also served as a hearing officer for the Kentucky Board of Claims from 1981 to 1985 and as a trial commissioner for the Lyon County District court from 1989 to 1992. Cunningham earned his bachelor"s degree from Murray State University in 1962 and his Juris Doctor in 1969 from the University of Kentucky College of Law.
He is a veteran of the United States. Army, having served in of Korea, Germany, and Vietnam.
Cunningham is a native of Lyon County and an author of five books about regional history, which chronicle the struggle for racial justice in western Kentucky since the American Civil War as well as a book about the history of the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville.
Achievements
Membership
Kentucky Bar Association. Commonwealth Attorney’s Association (Member, Board of Directors, 1984. Secretary, 1986; Treasurer, 1985).
(Also practicing individually at Eddyville, Kentucky) [Captain, United States.
Army, Judge Advocate General"s Corps, 1969-1973] Directors, since 1990, Belli Society. Member: McCracken County, Louisville, Kentucky and American Bar Associations.
Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys (District Vice-President, since 1989). New York State Trial Lawyers Association.
The Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. Fellow, Roscoe Pound Foundation. Civil Justice Foundation (Founding Sponser, since 1989).
[with United States.
Army, 1968-1970].
