IBA: Committee stresses civility, member outreach

Mentoring and assisting lawyers of all ages and experiences are among the goals of the 2010 IBA Standing Committee on Professionalism,
according to the 2010 committee chairs, Hon. William T. Lawrence, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana, and Kathleen
I. Hart, Bose McKinney & Evans LLP.

The outreach is geared toward promoting civility inside and outside the legal community. Among the committee's efforts
this year will be to co-host the second Mentors Who Matter Luncheon, which was begun last year to foster and recognize mentoring
relationships.

The committee also will be focusing this year on lawyers in transition, an effort that was begun in 2009 under the direction
of then co-chairs Hon. Sarah Evans Barker, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana, and Sally Zweig, Katz &
Korin PC.

A packet of information about starting a law practice was compiled by the committee for lawyers who have recently found their
careers in transition; it is available at www.indybar.org
by clicking on Professionalism.

Additional outreach to lawyers in transition may include a resume database hosted by the IBA and other programming to assist
lawyers who have changed the nature of their practice or pursued non-traditional careers.

In addition, the committee will continue a feature in the IBA's newsletter pages in the Indiana Lawyer newspaper
called "Nod to Professionalism," aimed at recognizing lawyers for their commitment to the IBA's standards of
professionalism. The standards denote five categories: commitment, character, competence, courtesy in client advocacy and
community service.

Zweig is joined on the 2010 committee by: Jerry A. Barr, Krieg DeVault LLP; A. Richard M. Blaiklock, Lewis Wagner LLP; Sonia
S. Chen, Bingham McHale LLP; James Dimos, Frost Brown Todd LLP; William M. "Terry" Horne, Attorney at Law; Ann Carr
Mackey, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP; Patrick W. Price, Barnes & Thornburg LLP; Roberta Sabin Recker, Baker &
Daniels LLP; Gary Roberts, Dean of the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis; Richard E. Shevitz, Cohen & Malad
LLP; and Hon. Gerald S. Zore, Marion Superior Court.

IBA leadership, aided by grants from the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, made a commitment several years ago to reduce imagerelated
barriers that may keep some from obtaining legal advice and/or create distance in attorneyclient relationships, and to promote
professionalism and civility in lawyer-to-lawyer relationships. A professionalism coordinator was appointed by the IBA board
and later the effort was assigned to a standing committee.

The IBA's professionalism accomplishments were recognized in 2007 by the American Bar Association with the E. Smythe
Gambrell Professionalism Award. Among them are the creation of the Bar Leader Series; re-affirming, printing and distributing
the Tenets of Professional Courtesy, now called the Standards of Professionalism; development of the Applied Professionalism
Course; various course offerings to law students and attorneys, such as "Surviving and Thriving in the Practice of Law";
and presenting an annual report on professionalism to the Indianapolis Bar Association's board of directors.

An annual IBA Professionalism Award also was established in 2004 to recognize exceptional meritorious achievement by an attorney
or judge widely accepted by his or her peers as having consistently modeled the spirit of the Indiana Rules of Professional
Conduct.

Watch for more information to come soon on professionalism programs. If you have any suggestions for the professionalism
committee, e-mail [email protected].