IndyBar: A Nod to Professionalism: Julia Carpenter

By Susanne Johnson, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

This month, we celebrate professionalism at the 2019 IndyBar and IBF Recognition Breakfast on Nov. 19 at the Meridian Hills Country Club. The IndyBar will be awarding the Professionalism Award to Julia A. Carpenter, a partner at Krieg DeVault LLP and chair of the firm’s Commercial and Real Estate Lending Practice Group.

Julia is a commercial lending transactional attorney with broad transactional experience in areas including — to name a few — secured and unsecured lending, construction lending, letters of credit, leveraged acquisitions and real estate financing. Julia’s personal and professional service to the law embodies the Professionalism Award, an award created in 2004 to summon to the spotlight lawyers and judicial officers whose career exemplifies the high calling and higher achievement of lawyers in modern society.

In 2015, Julia was named Commercial Lending Attorney of the Year in Indiana by Global Law Experts and one of the Top Women in Real Estate, according to Midwest Real Estate News. She has also devoted significant time to organizations that mentor women in the commercial industry. For instance, she is a founding member of the Executive Women in Finance Organization as well as IndyCrew, a commercial real estate network. She continues to serve in both organizations and mentors other professionals through these organizations. She also serves on the steering committee for the Women’s Network Forum, an Indianapolis-based networking organization for professional women, and she serves as a Board Member and Secretary for Little Star Center, an organization providing ABA therapy to autistic children.

Julia’s nominees include both her colleagues at Krieg DeVault as well as members of the organizations with which she associates. Her colleagues describe her as dependable, committed to the legal profession and loyal — both to her clients and to her firm. They applaud her commitment to diversity, including her ‘Better Together Workshop” — a firm-wide event coordinated by Julia to increase awareness of the need for diversity and inclusion and to provide solutions for implementing effective practices to increase diversity and inclusion. Members from the Executive Women in Finance describe Julia as a “trailblazer for women in the field of law” and commend her efforts in closing the gender gap through her additional involvement in the Women’s Network Forum and Krieg DeVault’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She has been described as an ally for women in the legal profession and committed to moving the needle on inclusion and diversity.

When asked what professionalism means to her, Julia remarks that it means “dedication to serving my clients, my partners and the members of my firm by putting their interests before my own personal interests.” In addition to her keeping up with the law in her areas of expertise and serving her clients, she “endeavors to train and mentor younger transaction attorneys.” When working on transactions, she maintains her professionalism by keeping the end in mind: “I believe that all parties are striving towards the same objective (the closing of the transaction) and while I am an advocate for my client’s position, there is no need for antagonism or disrespectful discourse with opposing parties or their counsel. I strive to negotiate, document and consummate transactions in an atmosphere of cooperation. I think reputation and integrity are two important characteristics of professionalism and I strive towards the highest standard for both. I have five children and I always want to set the best example for them.”

We hope that you join us in celebrating Julia Carpenter’s achievements and the achievements of the other award recipients at the Recognition Breakfast on Nov. 19.

You can register online at indybar.org/recognition!•

This article was originally published on the Professionalism Committee blog. To see more from the committee, visit indybar.org/prof.