Disciplinary Actions 06/24/20
Read who has been subject to Indiana Supreme Court discipline orders in the most recent reporting period.
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Articles
Connor and Loeffler: (Re)open for business: Employers’ questions for the next normal
As Indiana reopens amid COVID-19, employers will contend with various challenges and significant workplace changes. In addition to evolving federal guidance and recommendations, employers will need to take into account the rapidly changing orders and guidance from state and local authorities.
Blaiklock and Whybrew: COVID-19 and force majeure in the manufacturing context
The global COVID-19 pandemic ground the world economy to a virtual halt in many sectors, including manufacturing. Many manufacturing lines slowed to a crawl or stopped completely. Travel became practically impossible, if not prohibited by various government orders. Despite that, supply contracts remain in place. What impact COVID-19 has on the legal relationships between customers and manufacturers will depend primarily on the presence — and nature — of force majeure clauses in the governing documents.
IndyBar Review Prep Course Lives On Amidst Pandemic
During the current health crisis, the Indianapolis Bar Association remains committed to its responsibility to support and equip law students with practical skills and knowledge to thrive as a young lawyer in Indianapolis. It is for that reason we’ve modified and adapted our IndyBar Review prep course, the most comprehensive bar prep course in the region, keeping in mind the same goal to prepare students for the July 2020 Indiana Bar Examination.
DTCI: COVID-19 and Worker’s Compensation
As more employees are able to leave home and return to their traditional workplace with peers, exposure increases by default. Given the increased interaction, Indiana worker’s compensation defense attorneys may be seeing just the beginning of their indirect battle with COVID-19. This article sheds light on Indiana’s treatment of diseases in the worker’s compensation setting and describes what an employer, its insurer, and its defense attorney should expect if faced with a COVID-19 claim.
Bravo: ‘Failure to speak up would let down’ the legal community
When I recently saw the video of George Floyd’s extrajudicial killing by law enforcement, a familiar sense of anguish, fury, hopelessness, and malaise swept over me. So did a sense of helplessness. We had seen this video before, over the long and many years. We had read this story. And yet, I had never before witnessed such a starkly calm extinguishment of a human life — a Black human life.
Quick: Best marketing during pandemic — Lend a hand
During this unprecedented time, I have been asked by a number of clients if they should alter their marketing plans. My answer is “Yes, but don’t stop marketing.” Further, attorneys — like many other businesses — while still doing at least partial in-person interaction, should consider increasing certain aspects of contact with customers.
Saying goodbye: Baker to retire after more than 40 years as a judge
It wasn’t quite the retirement he expected. With COVID-19 forcing most of the population to work from home, Court of Appeals Judge John Baker quietly visited the Indiana Statehouse in early June to pack up his chambers. Though he won’t officially retire until July 31, he decided to close out his Indianapolis office early, without the usual pomp and circumstance of a sendoff. “I wanted to work from home,” Baker said with a laugh, “but I didn’t mean for everyone else in the world to have to do it.”
IndyBar Establishes Standing Commission on Racial Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Following the events of recent weeks and the growing awareness of racial inequality around the globe, we, leaders of the Indianapolis Bar Association, have recognized our responsibility to bring about change to achieve equality, diversity and inclusion in the Indianapolis legal community and beyond.
Thomas and Sugarman: SCOTUS’ Atlantic Richfield ruling and environmental torts
Environmental tort actions fall under the larger rubric of toxic torts and involve personal injury and property damage claims for releases of environmental contamination. But what happens when, as they often do, the regulatory cleanup takes years or even decades?
Ira: Comprehensive data privacy laws coming to a state near you
As the effects of data breaches have come to light over the last few decades, individual states and the federal government have taken action to attempt to bolster data security practices.
New laws for 2020
The Indiana General Assembly passed laws this year on matters ranging from increasing the smoking and vaping age to laws banning distracted driving, specifically prohibiting the use of a cellphone behind the wheel. The following enrolled acts, followed in parentheses by their corresponding public law numbers, take effect July 1 unless otherwise noted.
Start Page: Using Microsoft Teams for mediation
Personal and work lives have changed drastically in 2020, and we are only halfway through the year! If nothing else, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how flexible and resilient we need to and can be. It has also reminded us of how “essential” legal services are. What do you do when you are deemed “essential” during a global pandemic? You get creative.
IndyBar: Construction and Conversion Deadlines in the Time of COVID-19: Check Your Loan Documents
Since the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the United States in March 2020, many developers and borrowers with real estate construction or rehabilitation projects underway are faced with the critical question of whether they can adhere to the construction, conversion and other deadlines set forth in the project’s loan documents. Here are some key items to review if COVID-19 may cause the project to miss a critical deadline.
Letter to the editor: Attorneys’ oath demands action
In light of excessive police violence, I call on my fellow barristers, who took the same oath as I, to begin living that oath. “I will never reject, from any consideration personal to myself, the cause of the defenseless, the oppressed or those who cannot afford adequate legal assistance; so help me God.”
Dreyer: Judge John Baker — A ‘listening’ kind of justice
As his judging life comes to a crossroads, Judge John Baker sees similarities between his first days in small claims court and his last days now on the Court of Appeals.
IndyBar: Creating a Financial Plan to Get Through a Market Recession
With the choose-your-own apocalypse nature of today’s new cycle, it’s hard for young attorneys to prioritize financial health. To that end, James Munder of Northwestern Mutual gave a great presentation last month on creating a financial plan to get through a market recession.
Councilman who called Black Lives Matter protesters ‘uneducated’ resigns
A northeastern Indiana county councilman has resigned days after he sparked outage by saying during a council meeting that Black Lives Matter protesters were “uneducated” and lamented that they “breed.”
Ex-Valpo student gets probation for filming students showering
A former Valparaiso University student has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to secretly filming male classmates showering and using the bathroom and posting the videos online.
Sharply divided Supreme Court sides with smartphone owner in self-incrimination case
A harshly split Indiana Supreme Court has ruled 3-2 in favor of a woman who was found in contempt for refusing to unlock her smart phone in a criminal investigation. A majority of the high court reversed the contempt order, holding in a landmark ruling that forcing her to unlock her iPhone would violate her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.