Articles

Suspended lawyer accused of thefts from disabled clients jailed on warrant

A suspended Greenwood lawyer accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from disabled and injured clients whose special-needs trusts he established and then allegedly used for his own purposes is in jail in Muncie, where he may remain until standing trial on criminal charges around the state. Kenneth “Shane” Service, 46, was booked into the Delaware County Jail on Thursday, according to jail records.

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Revenue director challenging Indiana attorney general

The head of the Indiana Department of Revenue has decided to challenge embattled state Attorney General Curtis Hill’s bid seeking the Republican nomination for the office. Adam Krupp has said he would resign as the revenue department’s commissioner by the end of January to run full-time for attorney general.

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Judge orders sanctions against state attorney, DOC in prisoner litigation

Monetary sanctions and default judgment have been entered against state defendants and their attorney in a prisoner case that the presiding federal judge said “shattered” her trust in the defendants’ litigation practices. The judge also imposed new requirements on lawyers in the Indiana Attorney General’s office who defend the Department of Correction in prisoner civil-rights cases.

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Wise counsel when moving between firms

Law firm managers have long known they can’t require attorneys to sign noncompete agreements when they join a firm. Even so, there have still been instances where firms have made it challenging for a lawyer trying to make a lateral move. But a recent opinion from the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility makes it clear that any provision of an employment agreement that interferes with a client’s autonomy is never acceptable.

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Prosecutors: Deeply-in-debt Michael Avenatti sought payday

Prosecutors say high-profile California attorney Michael Avenatti was over $15 million in debt when he tried to extort  up to $25 million from Nike, while Avenatti’s lawyers say the money he legally requested to conduct an internal probe of the sportswear giant was a bargain. Both sides made the assertions in court papers filed late Tuesday in advance of a Jan. 22 criminal trial in Manhattan.

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Year in Review: Baer death penalty reversal most-read IL story of 2019

A federal appeals court’s reversal of Madison County killer Fredrick Baer’s death sentence was the most-read story on the Indiana Lawyer’s digital edition, www.theindianalawyer.com. Indiana Lawyer readers clicked on stories on our website more than 2.6 million times between Jan. 1 and Dec. 10, 2019, according to Google Analytics. Here are the 50 most-viewed story headlines during that time.

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