Emily Cowles is the leader of the Firm's Real Estate & Lending Service Team and has practiced real estate law for more than two decades. Emily’s primary focus is commercial real estate and development transactions, land title and survey, commercial leases and various other types of contract work. She also has vast experience in banking and finance law, creditors rights, loan enforcement and workouts, and complex lending and special asset documentation. Emily’s chief clientele range from real estate buyers, developers and investors in the purchase of shopping centers, various auto dealer groups, hotels, multifamily developments and raw land, to national and community banks lending on simple loan terms to complex multi-million dollar financing. Her experience cascades in the public sector as well, representing a public university in its purchase of land and development of facilities. By the very nature of her practice and personal experiences, many will also see Emily handling equine transactions of various types, and general day-to-day tasks for local small businesses and her auto dealer and hospitality clients. When Emily is not working, she is volunteering for her two sons’ school and with their athletics, while also devoting time to her local and state chambers of commerce and several charitable organizations.

Professional Experience

• Prior to practicing law in the private sector, Ms. Cowles served as staff attorney in the Fayette Circuit Court and in the Kentucky Court of Appeals for the Honorable Judge Laurance B. VanMeter.

Education

J.D., Capital University Law School, Columbus Ohio, 2003

B.A., cum laude, University of Kentucky, 2000

Distinctions

• Kentucky Super Lawyers®: Top 50 Attorneys in Kentucky, 2018-2020
• Kentucky Super Lawyers®: Top 25 Women Attorneys in Kentucky, 2018-2023
• Kentucky Super Lawyers® 2013-2025 (Creditor Debtor Rights)
• The Best Lawyers in America®, 2021 (Litigation - Labor & Employment)
• The Best Lawyers in America®,  2021-Present (Banking and Finance Law)
• The Best Lawyers in America®, 2017-Present (Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law)
• The Best Lawyers in America®, 2020-Present (Real Estate Law)
• Continuing Legal Education Award from the Kentucky Bar Association, 2016
• Top Women in Business, The Lane Report, 2014

Professional Activities

• Kentucky Bar Association
• Fayette County Bar Association
• Kentucky Chamber of Commerce 
• Chairman, Inquiry Commission of the Kentucky Bar Association, 2017-2020
• Commercial Property Association of Lexington
• Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association
• Kentucky Horse Council
• Board of Directors, Women Leading Kentucky, Present
• Board of Directors and Audit Committee - Peoples Exchange Bank, Present
• International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC)
• Kentucky Bankers Association

News

• Women Leading Kentucky Conference, "Community Catalysts: Transforming Careers Through Service," May 2024
• UK Law Real Estate & Practice Institute, KBA Real Property Section, "Legal Issues Arising from Short Term Rentals," Lexington, KY, March 2023
• 41st CLE Annual Conference on Legal Issues for Financial Institutions, hosted by the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, "Commercial Real Estate Issues for Bank Counsel" - October 2021
• Commerce Lexington's EMERGE Conference, UK Gatton Student Center, Lexington, KY, March 2019
• UK Law Real Estate & Practice Institute, "Foreclosure and Insolvency Issues in Real Estate," Lexington, KY, April 2017
• UK Law Collection Law Conference, "Post Default Remedies for Creditors," Lexington, KY, March 2017
• Back-End Foreclosures and Workouts, National Business Institute, Louisville, KY, December 2015
• National Business Institute, Equine Law: "Drafting, Contracts and Agreements," "Boarding Issues Generally," "Special Topics in Equine Law," "Ethics for the Equine Lawyer," 2014
• Fayette County Bar, Uniform Commercial Code Update: "Attachment, Perfection and Enforcement," 2010
• University of Kentucky National Equine Law Conference: "Unique Breeding Practices," 2009

• Ambassador, Commerce of Lexington 
• Advocate for CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Present
• Chairman, Board of Trustees, Sayre School 2020-2023
• Board of Trustees, Sayre School, 2016-2024