Wilbur M. Zevely

Wilbur M. Zevely is a partner at Busald Funk Zevely, PSC in Florence, Kentucky. He has practiced law since 1972, concentrating in criminal law, domestic relations, and DUI cases. Over the course of his career, Mr. Zevely has defended thousands of clients in criminal trials before judges and juries and has practiced extensively throughout Kentucky and Southern Ohio.

Mr. Zevely earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, with a minor in mathematics, from the University of Cincinnati in 1968. He received his Juris Doctor from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 1972. Prior to entering the practice of law, he worked as a chemist for The Monsanto Company under contract with the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

In the early 1970s, Mr. Zevely played a foundational role in expanding access to legal representation in Northern Kentucky by incorporating the 15th Judicial District Public Defender, Inc., the first state-funded public defender program in the region. He directed the program for several years, representing indigent clients across Boone, Gallatin, Grant, Carroll, and Owen Counties.

Mr. Zevely has made significant contributions to legal education and professional development. He has lectured extensively on DUI law for the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (KACDL), the Kentucky Bar Association, the Northern Kentucky Bar Association, and the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy. He also taught for more than ten years at the Department of Public Advocacy’s week-long basic training program in Falbush, Kentucky. In addition, he writes a regular column on DUI topics for the KACDL newsletter.

He is the co-author, along with the late Judge Stanley Billingsley, of the Kentucky Driving Under the Influence Law Book, a Westlaw publication that has been updated annually for two decades and is widely relied upon by practitioners throughout the Commonwealth.