Career changes

Dickson

Indiana Supreme Court Justice Brent Dickson announced in November that he will retire from the state’s highest court before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75 in July 2016. He is the second-longest serving justice in Indiana history, joining the court in 1986. Those who’ve worked with Dickson almost uniformly use the word integrity when talking about him. Dickson contributed a large body of jurisprudence developing law around the Indiana Constitution on subjects including privileges and immunities, double jeopardy, property tax uniformity, religious freedom and education. He served as chief justice for two years after longtime Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard retired from the court until Justice Loretta Rush was selected as chief justice in 2014.

Dickson plans on continuing to work on the problem of unrepresented litigants, encouraging pro bono work and reforming problems he sees with the pretrial detention of defendants who can’t afford bail.

Friedlander

Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Ezra “Zeke” Friedlander retired from the court in August after nearly 23 years on the appellate bench. He has been an attorney for 50 years and plans on serving as a senior judge. During his time as a judge, he participated inexcess of 6,000 opinions and wrote more than 3,000. Marion Superior Judge Robert Altice Jr. succeeded him on the court. Steven Lancaster, another longtime Indiana Court of Appeals employee, retired in 2015. He spent 20 years as administrator of the court. He was replaced by Larry Morris, who spent 22 years serving as senior law clerk for Friedlander.

Lancaster

Judge Robert L. Miller in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, will take senior status at the end of 2015. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1985. During his tenure, he handled major cases, such as multidistrict litigation in which he ruled FedEx drivers are independent contractors, and even wrote the book on evidence – literally. Before he became a judge, he wrote the book “Indiana Evidence” based on the Indiana Rules of Evidence. He is in the process of completing the fourth edition. (See more about Miller on page 1.)

Samuel “Chic” Born will retire from the practice of law after 45 years. He was an employment law attorney for many years at Ice Miller LLP until a heart attack in 1996 caused him to reconsider his career path. He joined The Mediation Group LLC, from where he will retire at the end of 2015. Born had been president of both the Indianapolis Bar Association and Indiana State Bar Association.

Laramore

Jon Laramore left big law and took on the role of executive director of Indiana Legal Services this year. Laramore, a former partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP and immediate past-president of the Indiana State Board of Law Examiners, started in the new position in February. He is only the second director to serve since the organization was started in the early 1970s under the leadership of previous executive director Norman Metzger.•