Changes could be coming to the way Indiana legislators convene this summer, as teleconferencing and virtual meetings become more commonplace in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although many may be skeptical of parents whose children are removed from their care, statistics show that nearly 67% of Hoosier youths exit foster care and are successfully reunited with their moms and dads. Those stories of resilience inspired the Marion Superior Court Juvenile Division and the Marion County Public Defender Agency to celebrate National Reunification Month for the first time in Indiana.
A study by the Indiana Public Defender Commission is highlighting what officials say is a flawed system that encourages contract public defenders to increase their private caseload to cover their overhead costs, which eat the bulk of the compensation they receive for representing indigent defendants.
As Hoosier trial courts prepare for the return of in-person proceedings with COVID-19 precautions, many unanswered questions remain about the best practices for safely conducting jury trials.
Americans have encountered numerous new experiences during COVID-19, but contact tracing isn’t one of them. Long used to track diseases such as tuberculosis, contact tracing is described by experts as a “tried and true” public health tool. But as the scale of the tracing has ballooned during the pandemic, so has the distrust of the method.
The Trump administration won a court ruling last month upholding its plan to require insurers and hospitals to disclose prices for common tests and procedures in a bid to promote competition and push down costs. The federal court decision comes as Indiana prepares to enact its own health care price transparency legislation next year.
The Black Lives Matter movement jolted us from our self-satisfied stasis. But to change things, we must do things. If silence is violence, then speaking without specifics is only nominally better. To bring the justice protesters so desire, it is time to recognize the deeply embedded systemic racism in Indiana and develop a list of specific demands to yield measurable results. The risk of not doing so is too great: the country simply cannot become further torn over racial injustice.
Like the rest of the state, lawyers aren’t heading back to the office all at once — in fact, some aren’t heading back at all. The new normal of “working from home” has become so engrained that firm leaders say they don’t expect their employees to return to the old lifestyle of commuting into the office every day.
Practicing law occupies your mind. Being a lawyer has been described as a thinking job and not just a doing job. Lately the news around us has been horrible, and the decisions we face about tasks as simple as buying groceries have been daunting. In these times, I have found my law practice to be a welcome respite from the world around me.
“Field of Dreams” (1989) captures the essence of baseball. The immortal line, “If you build it, he will come,” will always reminds me of my late father. As kids, he played catch with me and my brothers in a field near our house, and I still see him waving at me when I drive by that location in Batesville. As baseball tries to play a short season, I am reminded of my love of the game.
I’m a lawyer, so I’m a good communicator, right? Or at least I have been conditioned to believe that. In my own practice, I listen and respond to arguments all the time. Reflecting on my personal interactions, I would like to think that I take the time to look and listen to the person I am speaking with. So what more could I do? Doesn’t this mean I’m a good listener? If attorneys are supposedly so good at communicating, do I know what am I actually communicating when I interact with colleagues, coworkers and clients?
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
As of June 16, 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has implemented a new examination program to expedite trademark applications related to COVID-19 in light of the current economic circumstances caused by the global pandemic.
As of July 1, 2020, all instruments which are to be recorded in the State of Indiana (deeds, mortgages, etc.) will need to comply with a modification to Indiana Code 32-21-2-3(a). Specifically, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 340 during its 2020 session, which included a provision changing an “or” to an “and” in Indiana Code 32-21-2-3(a). The change invoked a requirement of common law “proof”, which is the requirement of a disinterested party to the transaction serving as a witness to the execution of an instrument.
A woman who learned years after she had been told that a hepatitis test was negative that in fact the test had come back positive had her case reinstated June 26 by the majority of an Indiana Court of Appeals panel. Two of three judges found a clinic fraudulently concealed the woman’s positive test result.
Dean Andrew Klein routinely tells us that he isn’t going anywhere after his one-year sabbatical. He intends to return to the classroom at IU McKinney. Law students will be better off for it. He intends to continue to support the IndyBar and the IBF and, in turn, the Indianapolis legal community. Our profession will be better off for it.
The IndyBar E-Discovery, Cybersecurity and Information Governance Section leaders Jennifer Tudor Wright and Katrina Gossett Kelly recently presented another successful and informative CLE entitled “Practical Tips to Bolster your Legal Hold Notice.” Jennifer and Katrina drew on their e-discovery experience and reviewed key elements of a legal hold notice, case law updates, confidentiality/privilege issues and additional considerations for attorneys and their clients.
An Indiana prisoner whose discipline conviction was overturned for lack of evidence did not persuade the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that his case manager later retaliated against him for activity protected by the First Amendment.
A man convicted in a drug conspiracy could not convince the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that he pleaded guilty to a lesser amount than what the government indicted him for.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a northern Indiana woman’s felony conviction for assisting her godson after he murdered his teenage girlfriend, finding she did so with the intent to hinder his punishment.