Book excerpt: This work (approx. 6500 words) provides a history of how the lawyers of Kentucky became a self-regulating profession. Beginning in the 1870s, the lawyers of Kentucky made efforts to organize themselves for the betterment of the legal profession in the Commonwealth. There was no state-wide system of disciplining lawyers, and handling wayward attorneys was up to the discretion of local judges and prosecutors. This work traces the beginnings of an embryonic, loosely-organized professional group through to bar unification, which empowered the Kentucky Supreme Court and the lawyers of the Commonwealth to regulate the profession. An abridged version of this article was previously published in Kentucky Bench & Bar in 2006.