Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP

Managing Partner: Franklin K Jelsma

Firm Overview:
As one of the South Central US region’s largest law firms, Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs maintains an active national practice in five offices throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. By leveraging the firm’s rich heritage and tradition of excellence, the Wyatt firm has been able to continually attract top legal talent and grow its business. Attorneys in the Wyatt firm adhere to their core principles of integrity, zealous representation and absolute loyalty to clients. This discipline, combined with an overriding dedication to client service, an uncompromising commitment to quality legal work and an old fashioned work ethic are hallmarks of the firm.

Main Areas of Practice: 

Business Law
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Healthcare
Natural Resources & Environmental
Labor & Employment
Data Privacy & Security
Intellectual Property
International Transactions
Real Estate

Business Law:
Wyatt has active practices in the areas of banking, tax, public finance, venture capital, environment, real estate and lending, securities compliance, executive compensation, employee benefit plans and labor law. Wyatt counsels its clients over the entire life of the business, from selecting the form of business entity, to raising capital and financing growth (both public and private offerings), to taxation issues, to acquisition and sale transactions and other exit strategies. The firm represents directors, officers, majority/minority owners and entrepreneurs in connection with a wide range of business issues.

Litigation & Dispute Resolution:
Wyatt handles all types of business litigation, including class actions, multi-district litigation and other complex litigation as well as more routine matters of business litigation in both jury and non-jury settings. The firm regularly represents the interests of major businesses, individuals, professional firms and governmental entities in all varieties of disputes, including those involving contracts, antitrust, fiduciary duties, toxic torts, tortious interference with contracts, franchises, unfair competition, regulatory law, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights.

Healthcare:
Wyatt has significant experience in all aspects of the healthcare industry including: (i) regulatory, administrative and accreditation matters such as certificates of need, licensure, HIPAA, Medicare, Medicaid and third-party reimbursement, (ii) planning and implementation regarding corporate structure, joint ventures, sales and acquisitions and tax-exempt status and (iii) hospital/physician/ patient relationships.

Natural Resources & Environmental:
Wyatt represents owners, producers and distributors of coal, oil and gas, energy facility operators and those who provide financing, technical assistance, equipment and insurance to mineral and energy industries. The firm handles a broad range of matters such as: acquisitions and divestitures; mineral leasing; supply contracts; real and personal property issues; labor and employment; taxes; mining agreements; and disaster response consultation. The firm also frequently handles litigation matters in these areas before state and federal courts and regulatory agencies.

Labor & Employment:
Wyatt’s labor and employment lawyers litigate for its employer clients in all areas of labor and employment law, including defending employment discrimination and wrongful discharge claims, wage and hour class and collective actions, FMLA and ADA claims, OSHA investigations and litigation and False Claims Act retaliation cases. The firm’s labor lawyers also handle all aspects of union representation elections including litigating representation petition issues and unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board, collective bargaining negotiations and arbitrations. The firm also represents employers and their employees in immigration matters.

Data Privacy & Security:
Wyatt lawyers can help businesses understand and comply with the many state and federal laws pertaining to privacy and information security. The firm’s service area members have hands-on experience advising clients in many industries, including healthcare, banking, insurance, education, information technology and retail.

Intellectual Property:
The firm’s intellectual property attorneys are responsible for matters related to the registration and licensing of trademarks and infringements of rights thereto; counseling and negotiation and documentation of transactions related to technology licensing, transfer and franchising; and patents and related matters including counseling inventors and company management on invention protection, drafting and prosecution of patent applications, infringement avoidance and litigation.

International Transactions:
The firm also has experience with international business negotiations, acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as multinational sales, distribution and licensing arrangements, protection of intellectual property and tax issues related to the foregoing.

Real Estate:
The firm’s real estate attorneys have considerable experience in all aspects of real estate development and finance, including both commercial and construction lending. The firm represents developers of real estate projects ranging in size from a few million dollars to mixed-use, multi-phased developments costing in excess of $100,000,000. The firm also regularly serves as primary or local counsel for borrowers and lenders in real estate financings.

Representative clients include:
Churchill Downs Incorporated; GE Appliances; Heaven Hill Distilleries; Houchens Industries, Inc., Interlock Industries; JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.; Owensboro Health, Inc.; Smith & Nephew, Inc.; Sullivan University System, Inc.; University of Louisville Foundation; Valvoline Inc.