Daughters of Greatness: Lonita Baker

Lonita K. Baker serves as Corporate Counsel for Waystar, Inc. following a notable career in personal injury litigation. Additionally, she previously served as an Assistant Jefferson County Attorney in the Legislative Services Branch of the Civil Division and as a Supervising Prosecutor in the Criminal Division. Attorney Baker began her legal career at the Louisville Metro Public Defender Corporation.

In 2020, Baker gained national attention in her representation of the family of Breonna Taylor. This case was one of the pivotal points in Baker’s career resulting in a groundbreaking settlement with the City of Louisville, which included terms of police reform in addition to one of the largest financial awards for an individual civil rights case to date.

She graduated from the University of Louisville in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and minors in Sociology and Pan-African Studies. She continued her studies at the University of Louisville at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law obtaining her Juris Doctor in 2006. In 2017, she obtained a Master of Business Administration with Distinction from the University of Louisville College of Business.

Throughout her career, Baker has shown her commitment to the legal community consistently. She is the current President of the National Bar Association (“NBA”), after previously serving as a Vice-President, Member at Large, Chief of Staff, and Chief of Communications. Baker also served multiple terms as President of the Charles W. Anderson, Jr. Bar Association an NBA Affiliate Chapter. Baker has also served the Louisville legal community by serving on the Board of Directors for the Louisville Bar Association and as an adjunct professor at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. She also served as the lead attorney for the Louisville Urban League Reily Re-entry Expungement Program.

Baker has received several awards for her service to the legal profession including being named a Top 40 Under 40 Attorney by the National Bar Association (2015) and The National Black Trial Lawyers (2017), receiving six Presidential Awards from the National Bar Association (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022), and being named the 2019 Justice Award recipient from the Louisville Urban League. In 2020, Baker earned recognition as a Top 40 Under 40 by Louisville Business First, a Wiley Branton Awardee by the National Bar Association, and the Daniel M. Alvarez Champion for Justice Award by the Louisville Bar Association. In 2021, Baker was awarded the Equal Justice Award by the National Bar Association and the R. Eugene Pincham award by Cook County Bar Association. Most recently, she was recognized by the Charles Houston Bar Association as the Kamala Harris Woman of Excellence honoree. Baker is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.