Website offers help to renters facing eviction
Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic has partnered with the city of Indianapolis to create a special website to help Hoosiers around the state who are behind on rent and facing eviction.
Marilyn Odendahl
Articles
Down to business: Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence legal team helps survivor untangle from financial mess
A pro bono team of lawyers helped a grateful domestic violence survivor get untangled from a business her ex-husband had set up in her name that left her facing substantial financial obligations.
Immigration overload: Court backlog of 1.2 million cases sparks fears, frustration and calls for change
Immigration attorneys say the lengthening time between hearings and the growing delays are needlessly clogging the docket, causing backlogs to skyrocket and putting client due process at risk. Since fiscal year 2017, the number of pending cases nationwide has more than doubled from 629,051 to 1.26 million for fiscal year 2020.
Service providers offering help to returning individuals stress need for work
The positives of having a job are unchanged, but the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced some new obstacles to re-entering individuals whose criminal records already created a barrier to gainful employment.
Indiana election suit plaintiffs waiting for fees, watching voting statutes
In the only election lawsuit the state did not appeal, the plaintiffs have filed a third request with the Southern Indiana District Court for more time in filing a petition for attorney fees.
Appeals court affirms breach of contract claim after sewage leak
In a dispute between a property owner and an association of property owners over a sewage mishap, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the even though the association was not negligent, it still breached its contract.
Lawsuit claims IU violated Constitution in search of ID card data
Four students at Indiana University Bloomington who were part of an investigation into allegations of hazing at a fraternity have filed a federal lawsuit and are trying to block the school from accessing the swipe data from students’ ID cards without a warrant.
Bar Foundation supporter encouraging donations
Timothy Abeska, a retired South Bend attorney, is providing needed financial support to the Indiana Bar Foundation and, through a just-announced matching initiative, is incentivizing others to do the same.
A Hamilton County community champion: Legendary Lawyer Douglas Church
In a career that has spanned 50 years, Douglas Church not only developed his own private practice but also played an integral role in the blossoming of Hamilton County. He served as attorney for the town of Fishers from 1980 through 2015 and for the city of Noblesville from 1988 through 1996, helping those communities formulate and implement strategies for growth.
User-friendly data: Lawyer-technologists launch new software to address e-discovery problems
A developer of software that comprehensively tracks e-discovery progress in real time describes his team’s inspiration this way: “What we tried to do was take away some of the barriers because people go to law school to be lawyers not to learn software or how to put together Excel spreadsheets … We wanted to create something that was the path of least resistance for people. They just log in and get all the critical information they need.”
IU McKinney opening certified IP law clinic
A long-held dream, a handful of alumni and a student whose summer externship was scuttled all came together to create and launch the first intellectual property law clinic at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
New and soon-to-be lawyers chart a different course in uncertain times
The uncertainty of the times is heightening the worry and stress among law students and new lawyers, but career counselors say the people just entering the legal profession are doing more to confront the issues of the day. They are discussing ways to solve injustices and inequities, pursuing jobs in the public sector and carefully evaluating law firms to determine if they share the same values.
7th Circuit upholds Indiana’s process for extending polling hours
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the amended Indiana election law that prohibits individual voters from asking state courts to extend voting hours on Election Day.
Federal court rejects archdiocese’s religious exemption claim in Roncalli case
Ruling the religious exemption in Title VII should be narrowly construed so as to avoid stripping employees of all protections against discrimination, the Southern Indiana District Court denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in a lawsuit brought by a guidance counselor who was fired from her job at Roncalli High School for being in a same-sex marriage.
Federal prosecutor on deck to fill potential 7th Circuit vacancy
Thomas L. Kirsch II, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, has been nominated by the White House to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is in line to fill Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s seat on the appellate court if she is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
LSAT staying remote; Indiana Bar Exam still deciding
Citing the “continuing uncertainty and disruption of the COVID-19 emergency,” the Law School Admission Council has announced that all the remaining LSAT exams will be delivered remotely instead of in-person through April 2021.
IU Maurer part of ABA policing consortium
Indiana University Maurer School of Law is part of a just-launched collaboration of law schools across the United States that are coming together to examine and address legal issues in policing and public safety.
Justices: Drug test results properly admitted in parental rights termination hearing
A couple’s argument that their drug test results amounted to hearsay and should not have been admitted in court failed to convince the Indiana Supreme Court, which found the drug test reports were admissible under the records of a regularly conducted business activity exception.
COA ruling gives Dead Man’s Statute longer reach
Under the Indiana Dead Man’s Statute, the deceased can tell no tales, but a recent decision by the state’s Court of Appeals has created uncertainty over when the survivors can speak, particularly where it concerns trusts.
Fighting words: Pro se’s 20-year legal battle morphs into crusade over perceived unfairness
Peter Prostyakov, a native of Moscow who’s now a U.S. Citizen living in Carmel, details what he concedes is his convoluted journey into the federal judicial system, where he believes courts act unfairly toward him and other self-represented litigants.