IndyBar: Indianapolis Bar Foundation Installs 2025 President

On Jan. 30, the Indianapolis Bar Foundation celebrated the installation of its 2025 president, Briana Clark. The following is the address she gave to the nearly 200 members, family, and friends in attendance.

Thank you so much Raegan [Gibson] for your kind words. I truly would not be standing here today without you. It has been such a treasure and honor to have known you since day one at law school over at McKinney – when we actually didn’t even like each other. Fast forward way more years than I am willing to admit and I am so in awe of the lawyer you have become – running an amazing team with clients so thrilled about you that they scream it from billboards across Indianapolis, literally. And I am so in awe of the person you have become – the leadership you have shown both within the IndyBar Foundation and the Association has not only inspired so many of us but brought so much success to both organizations.

Without a friend and IndyBar advocate like Raegan essentially dragging me kicking and screaming to get involved with the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, I would not be here today. That is probably not what you expected to hear from your incoming Foundation president, but it is true and I think it helps frame both the challenges and opportunities we face today as an organization. It is so easy as a new lawyer to be overwhelmed just by the practice of law itself. Your entire life is suddenly measured in tenth of an hour increments and making time for things like IndyBar Association events seems insurmountable. However, ever-the-wise Raegan, convinced me to get involved with the Gala committee – “Bri just come meet these cool people and use your creative side to help plan a party.” Little did I know that more than a decade later, that one connection would change my life so immensely – furthering my career, introducing me to some of my closest friends and colleagues, and allowing me the opportunity to give back to our legal community and community at large.

I could stand up here today and tell you all of the wonderful things that the IndyBar Foundation does, and that we’re going to do this year. And we ARE – as you saw just a few minutes ago we have the most amazing board of talented individuals. They have hit the ground running so fast to make 2025 a success that we are already having sponsor wars over our most popular events. I can barely keep up with all the great work they are already doing to help us provide grants to community organizations advancing justice, provide scholarships to our up and coming lawyers, to support the Diversity Job Far to ensure that all students have opportunities to join our Indianapolis legal community, to support the annual Bench Bar conference and online continuing education, and to provide pro bono services like our 24-7 virtual help desk or our free wills clinic.

But you already know this. You are all here. You are a community of incredible people who have been willing to commit their time, money, attention, heart, and passion to advance justice and lead positive change in the Indianapolis legal community. As I scan around this room, I can barely spot a single one of you that hasn’t been at the front of this stage receiving an accolade, becoming a fellow, delivering a speech, asking me for money, or telling me about an event or CLE or initiative I have yet to embrace.

So how do we, the folks that are already at the table, help make the Foundation better? How do we do more? We have to invest our time and energy in the future. Into the individuals and the firms that we have not yet reached. That starts today. I know we have many law students with us this morning, hosted by our board members. Thank you so much for joining us. Please consider joining us on February 27 for our take a law student to lunch program at McKinney. This program has been incredibly impactful for me – not just as a way to meet future leaders, but to meet future friends and hopefully future colleagues! It has introduced me to a friend that joined a women’s cycling group I am involved with and rides with me on Thursday nights in the summer. And has introduced me to potential new colleagues that I am working hard to recruit to come to Dentons.

Along those lines, Lee Christie, your incoming Association president, has had the foresight to invite law school leaders to association board meetings so they can weigh in and help us help them. Bringing our future leaders in early empowers us all.

Similarly, we are focused on finding ways in which we can reach more practitioners. In this current climate where we have a shortage of lawyers and the practice of law faces numerous challenges, it is incredibly important to us to make sure that everyone can experience the benefits IndyBar has to offer.

That starts at IndyBar HQ. If you have not been recently – you are missing out. It is your home away from home, a true hub for our legal community. There are always snacks, swag, an ability to jump in on a CLE, snag a room for a conference call, get your headshot updated, find out what is going on in the community, grab a cup of coffee with a friend, meet with a client, get tips on managing your practice, or even have Bryssa help update your Instagram account. It is full service 24-7!

Again, what makes the Indianapolis Bar Foundation the organization I love and am proud to represent for the next year is all of you. Get ready for my call (or more likely a text or email – it certainly won’t be a Teams message) to pull you in to help the next generation of lawyers and yet-to-be IndyBar members to have the same incredible experience we all have had. And we want to see more of you – at our block party, on the golf course, at the Gala, winning auction items at BarsGiving, schooling me at trivia, or making calls and donations for Day of Giving.

I have a few thank yous to say before I give back the microphone. First, Chief Justice Rush, I could not be more honored to have you administer the oath to me. Your career is unparalleled, and you are such an inspiration to all of us, particularly as a woman in the law. Thank you so much for being here today.

Julie, Deneen, Kari, Bryssa, and the rest of the IBF staff – you are truly amazing. None of us would be here without you. The way you have turned this organization into a well-oiled machine while yet at the same time knowing everything about everyone and what each of us needs at all times – I cannot even comprehend it. You are simply the best.

Thanks to my Dentons family who have been there for me since day one of my career. I am a lifer at our firm. I actually started with what was Bingham McHale back in the summer of 2004, as a file clerk for Jim Reed. (And somehow I was not scared away from the practice of law.) Dentons has given me some of my best friends and mentors who have all worked tirelessly to help me become a better lawyer. James Hinshaw, while you have yet to convince me that phone calls are necessary for the practice of law, you constantly challenge me to think critically and do more. Rusty Denton, thank you for teaching me the value of color coded post it notes and excel spreadsheets for trial prep. Phil Isenbarger – thanks for giving me a reason to continue cheering for the Hoosiers even in trying times like this basketball season. Meg Christensen, our first female office managing partner – you are always, always an inspiration. Karl Mulvaney, an IndyBar legend, never says no to an ask for the Foundation. And Tonya, Jessie, Chad, and Tom, thank you for being such great friends, colleagues, and mentors.

A special thanks to the best friends the IndyBar Foundation could have ever given me – Raegan Gibson, Biz Walker, Rebecca Geyer, Julie Armstrong, and Travis Jensen – you have been there for me all day every day throughout my entire involvement with the IndyBar Foundation but more than that, throughout all aspects of my life. I treasure your friendship and guidance more than I could ever express.

Finally, I want to thank my family members who are here with me today – my husband Harry, my mom Lauren who is unquestionably my rock, my brother Brendan and his wife Deb who has become a sister to me, and my aunt and uncle Lisa and Don who we are thrilled to have just moved back here to Indiana a few months ago. Everything I do is a family affair – and as a result my family had no choice but to become staunch supporters of the foundation. Over the years they have outbid or upbid you on auction items, contributed to all of our campaigns, been to movies with us at the Drive-In, dressed up for our costume contests, and played trivia (but I am still mad at Deb the traitor for joining Elisabeth Edwards’s team!). The two most famous Clark family members – Mavic and Maddie – had to stay at home this morning, but they do make popup appearances at HQ, so add puppy love as another benefit the IndyBar Foundation provides!

There is a very empty seat at our family table and we are really missing having my dad here today. I know he is looking down in spirit. I’ll conclude with what he would have said if he was here, and it was one of the mottos that he lived by: “Always do the right thing… especially when no one is looking.” That is what all of you do for our legal community each and every day, and that is why I am so proud to be here among you. Thank you!•