Lebanon Enterprise -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 3/3/2004
Last Visited: 3/4/2004
Mattingly's practices law to help people
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In the case of Marion County Attorney Joe Mattingly, that sentiment rings true.
Marion County Attorney Joe Mattingly was chosen as the Lebanon-Marion County Chamber of Commerce's Outstanding Businessperson for 2003.
Mattingly, the Lebanon-Marion County Chamber of Commerce's Outstanding Businessperson of the Year for 2003, has never regarded himself as a businessman.He's a lawyer.
Years ago, he convinced his wife, Carol, to run the business component of his law practice.He didn't enjoy the business aspect.He just wanted to practice law.
So, it's really his wife that deserves the award, he admits.
But making the transformation from a Loretto boy to an attorney who has stood face to face with the United States Supreme Court hasn't been easy.
Growing up in Loretto with four sisters and one brother, Mattingly was heavily influenced by the Sisters of Loretto at the Loretto Motherhouse, which is where he spent many of his summers as a young boy.
It's there where his interest in social justice was sparked.
"They tried to make you understand what social issues were and social justice was," Mattingly said."I think back now at how amazing an opportunity that was.The ladies there had amazing experiences.They did a very good job of opening a little kid's eyes."
During his grade school and high school years, Mattingly always said that he would never move out of Loretto.At the time, he couldn't imagine a place where he would rather live.He even considered following in his father's footsteps and running the Mattingly Funeral Home in Loretto.But, because of the encouragement from John Smith, a local attorney, and Smith's wife, Suzie Smith, Mattingly's "all-time favorite teacher," he decided to go to college and study law.
"I had a lot of interest in being active and involved and had a lot of questions about why people did the things they did and how the system worked," Mattingly said."Their encouragement probably, more than anything else, was the reason why I decided to go that route."
He graduated from Marion County High School in 1979 and attended the University of Kentucky where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in 1983 and his Juris Doctor Degree in 1986.
He and his wife planned to live in Louisville.But a conversation with John Smith changed those plans and Mattingly and his wife moved back to Marion County in 1986 so he could join Spragens, Smith & Higdon, P.S.C.
He stayed there for 10 years then opened his own practice.
At age 29, Mattingly became Marion County Attorney and he's one of three Kentucky lawyers in this decade who has argued and won civil cases before the United States Supreme Court.
He vividly remembers sitting directly in front of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and just hoping that one word would come out of his mouth.
Very few lawyers ever get a chance to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court so Mattingly's experience was a huge success.But it's the small successes that make him feel good when he goes home at night to his wife and three children - Christine, 11, Nicole, 8, and Kelly, 3.
"It seems that most days are like a streak of lightning," Mattingly said.