Richard Underwood
Emeritus 2025
Emeritus 2025
Professor Underwood began teaching at the University of Kentucky in 1980. Prior to that he clerked for U.S. District Judge David S. Porter (1976-78) and practiced at the Columbus, Ohio firm of Vorys, Sater Seymour and Pease. Professor Underwood served as the Chairman of the Kentucky Bar Associations Ethics Committee (1984-1998), Chairman of the Unauthorized Practice Committee (1984-1996), and Chairman of the KBA Model Rules Committee (1988-1989). He was a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (2011-2014). He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Life Fellow of the Kentucky Bar Foundation. He served in the Army from 1969 to 1973, and he is a Viet Nam War Veteran.
Specialties
- Legal Ethics
- Evidence
- Insurance
- Remedies
- Trial Advocacy
Courses
- Law 890 Evidence
- Law 887 Insurance
- Law 835 Professional Responsibility
- Law 818 Remedies
Books & Book Chapters
- CrimeSong: True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads (Shadelandhouse 2016).
- Kentucky Evidence Courtroom Manual (LexisNexis) (annual publication) (with Glen Weissenberger).
- Kentucky Legal Ethics Deskbook (Univ. of Ky. CLE, 5th ed., 2016) (with Todd B. Eberle, Timothy S. Chase, Kurt X. Metzmeier & Tracy J. Taylor).
- Modern Litigation and Professional Responsibility (Little Brown & Co. / Aspen 1996) (with William Fortune & Edward Imwinkelreid).
- Medicine and the Law, in Professional and Practice Development (Emery A. Wilson & L. Reed Polk eds., 1990).
- Trial Ethics (Little Brown & Co. 1988) (with William Fortune).
Scholarly Articles
Scholarship is available for download at Richard H. Underwood's SelectedWorks page.
- A Riff on Billy the Kid, 32 Touro L. Rev. 225 (2016).
- Something Bad in Your Briefs, 37 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 369 (2013).
- Ringers Revisited, 37 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 129 (2013).
- Following the Rules: Exclusion of Witness, Sequestration, and No-Consultation Orders, 35 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 523 (2012).
- Making Stuff Up, 34 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 151 (2010).
- The Sad, Sad Story of Lula Viers, 15 J. S. Legal Hist. 259 (2007) (with Sharon Ray).
- Stella Kenney: A Little Problem in Evidence, 14 J. S. Legal Hist. 119 (2006).
- Crimesong: Some Murder Ballads and Poems Revisited, 12 J. S. Legal Hist. 5 (2004) (with Carol J. Paris).
- What I Think That I Have Learned about Legal Ethics, 39 Idaho L. Rev. 245 (2003).
- What Gets Judges in Trouble, 23 J. Nat'l Ass'n Admin. L. Judges 101 (2003).
- Not So Great Moments in Trial Advocacy: Clement Vallandigham, 13 Widener L.J. 185 (2003).
- The Attorney-Client and Work Product Privileges: The Case for Protecting Internal Investigations on the University Campus, 90 Ky. L.J. 531 (2001-2002) (with Virginia H. Underwood).
- Administrative Adjudication in Kentucky: Ethics and Unauthorized Practice Considerations, 29 N. Ky. L. Rev. 359 (2002).
- Evaluating Scientific and Forensic Evidence, 24 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 149 (2000).
- Book Review, 29 N. Ky. L. Rev. 237 (2002) (reviewing John Evangelist Walsh, Moonlight: Abraham Lincoln and the Almanac Trial (2000)).
- The Professional and the Liar, 87 Ky. L.J. 919 (1999).
- Perjury! The Charges and the Defenses, 36 Duq. L. Rev. 715 (1998).
- The Limits of Cross-Examination, 21 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 113 (1997).
- Genetics, Genetic Testing, and the Specter of Discrimination: A Discussion Using Hypothetical Cases, 85 Ky. L.J. 665 (1997) (with Ronald C. Cadle).
- Perjury: An Anthology, 13 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 307 (1996).
- "X-Spurt" Witnesses, 19 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 343 (1995).
- Logic and the Common Law Trial, 18 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 151 (1994).
- False Witness: A Lawyer's History of the Law of Perjury, 10 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 215 (1993).
- Part-Time Prosecutors and Conflicts of Interest: A Survey and Some Proposals, 81 Ky. L.J. 1 (1992).
- Confessions of an Ethics Chairman, 16 J. Legal Prof. 125 (1991).
- Comments on Professor Rotunda's Essay, 76 Ky. L.J. 733 (1988).
- Taking and Pursuing a Case: Some Observations Regarding "Legal Ethics" and Attorney Accountability, 74 Ky. L.J. 173 (1985).
- Kentucky Law Survey, Insurance, 72 Ky. L.J. 403 (1984).
- Discovery in Kentucky: An Overview, 72 Ky. L.J. 727 (1984).
- Kentucky Law Survey, Evidence, 71 Ky. L.J. 287 (1983) (with Carolyn M. Geisler).
- Legal Ethics and Class Actions: Problems, Tactics and Judicial Responses, 71 Ky. L.J. 787 (1983).
- Adversary Ethics: More Dirty Tricks, 6 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 265 (1982).
- Kentucky Law Survey, Insurance, 70 Ky. L.J. 255 (1982).
- Curbing Litigation Abuses: Judicial Control of Adversary Ethics—The Model Rules of Professional Conduct and Proposed Amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure, 56 St. John's L. Rev. 625 (1982).
- The Doctor and His Lawyer: Conflicts of Interest, 30 U. Kan. L. Rev. 385 (1982).
Links
- Scholars@UK
- Underwood - CV.pdf (137.86 KB)