Bar admissions
Kentucky · Arizona · SCOTUS · CAAF
Kentucky Bar #101547 (active, member in good standing). Arizona Bar #023694 (active, member in good standing). Supreme Court of the United States. United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
About · The attorney behind the firm
Twenty years.One firm at a time.Now in Elizabethtown.
Active Kentucky license, KY Bar #101547. Retired US Army Judge Advocate, May 2005 – July 2025. The same care he uses on his own work.
KY BAR # 101547·Principal office: 19 Fairway Drive, Elizabethtown, KY 42701
This is an advertisementDurward Elton Johnson, Esq. is responsible for the content of this site.
Biography
The path to this practice.
I started practicing law in May 2005. For the next twenty years and two months — through July 2025 — I was a uniformed attorney for the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps. I retired and came home to Elizabethtown to do work I'd been preparing to do for a long time: estate planning, real estate, small-business, and probate matters for Kentucky clients, one matter at a time.
The clients I represented in twenty years of military service trusted me with the most consequential paperwork of their lives — orders, claims, family-care plans, end-of-life instructions before a deployment. The shape of that work informs how I run this practice. I do the work directly. I read every document before it leaves the firm. I keep the fees flat and published.
Credentials
The record.
Military service
US Army Judge Advocate · May 2005 – July 2025
Twenty years and two months of active legal practice as a uniformed attorney. Combat-deployment veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom (Jalalabad, Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Retired Lieutenant Colonel.
Decorations
Bronze Star · Legion of Merit
Bronze Star Medal and Legion of Merit. Meritorious Service Medal (4th Award). Army Commendation Medal (4th Award). Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star. NATO Medal.
Academic
Naval War College · Stockton Center
Associate Director for Law of Land Warfare and Military Professor at the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, US Naval War College (2019-2021). Managing Editor of International Law Studies, the oldest international-law journal in the United States (2020-2021). Peer-reviewed publications on cyber operations and the law of autonomous weapons.
Practice areas
Estate planning · Real estate · Small business · Probate
Wills, durable powers of attorney, advance directives, trusts; deeds, mortgages, title opinions, closings; LLC formation, operating agreements, commercial leases; uncontested and complex probate. All in Kentucky.
Office
19 Fairway Drive, Elizabethtown, KY 42701
Principal office. By appointment. (502) 230-1620.
How the firm is organized
One law firm. One Kentucky lawyer. Two ways to engage.
Johnson Legal PLLC is the Kentucky law firm. Every legal service on this site is rendered by the firm. Elton Johnson, KY Bar #101547, is the lawyer responsible for the work.
Bluegrass Cornerstone is a registered assumed name (DBA) of Johnson Legal PLLC under KRS 365.015. It is the brand the firm uses for its high-volume Kentucky document catalog — wills, durable powers of attorney, advance directives, transfer-on-death deeds, revocable living trusts, healthcare powers of attorney, HIPAA authorizations, and similar fixed-flat-fee documents. Same lawyer, same firm, different storefront. The catalog runs at sub-market pricing because AI-assisted drafting reduces the time it takes to do the routine drafting from blank page; the lawyer substantively reviews every Cornerstone document before delivery. See bluegrasscornerstone.com for the catalog.
For matters that need more than a catalog document — LLC formation and operating agreements, commercial leases, uncontested probate, demand letters, buy-sell agreements, complex trusts — engage Johnson Legal directly through /our-services or /flat-fees. Both doors lead to the same Kentucky lawyer.
A note on AI
How the firm uses AI.
Johnson Legal uses AI tools to assist with drafting, research, document review, and summarization across the practice. Professional judgment, advocacy, settlement strategy, and ethical decisions stay lawyer-exclusive. Every AI output is substantively reviewed by Elton Johnson before it leaves the firm. You can decline AI use on your matter at any time; the engagement letter explains how.
Our AI-use practice is governed by Kentucky Bar Association Ethics Opinion E-457 (March 15, 2024) and the Rules of Professional Conduct that opinion cites — SCR 3.130 (1.1) (1.4) (1.5)(a) and (b) (1.6) (5.1)(b) and (8.4).