IndyBar: Ask a Lawyer
IndyBar volunteers were scattered across the city on Tuesday, Oct. 6 for the biannual Ask a Lawyer legal advice program. Click here for photos from the event.
IndyBar volunteers were scattered across the city on Tuesday, Oct. 6 for the biannual Ask a Lawyer legal advice program. Click here for photos from the event.
Check out some of the fun, frightful and festive fall fun in store to support the Indianapolis Bar Association and the Indianapolis Bar Foundation!
Let’s dispense with the pleasantries and get real. We are not OK. We are in the midst of a global pandemic, suffering through a highly contested presidential election, gearing up for another Supreme Court battle, the Pacific Northwest is on fire, the Eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast have been hit with so many hurricanes that they are using the Greek alphabet, we have all been forced to conserve toilet paper at some point in the last six months, and the cherry on top — many of us are educating our kids from home while working full-time jobs. What in the literal 2020 is happening? I honestly have no idea, but I have devised a three-part survival guide to get us through this.
Despite her personal achievements as a Supreme Court litigator and justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was quick to recognize that “the work of perfection is scarcely done. Many stains remain . . . [W]e still struggle to achieve greater understanding and appreciation of each other across racial, religious and socioeconomic lines.” But, again, these impediments were an opportunity for Justice Ginsburg to “strive to realize the ideal — to become a more perfect union.”
Now is your opportunity to volunteer to help the less fortunate in our community and to nominate deserving legal professionals for two prestigious upcoming IndyBar honors.
See photos from recent Indianapolis Bar Association activities.
The IndyBar Professionalism Committee is currently soliciting nominations for the 2020 IndyBar Professionalism Award (attorney) and IndyBar Silver Gavel Award (judge). We’ll also present the Unsung Hero Award, given to a lawyer who goes above and beyond the call of duty and exhibits the highest level of commitment to others without the expectation of praise or recognition.
As lawyers, many of our relationships are governed by our rules of professional conduct. For the most part, these rules place burdens, limits and duties on us. The judge-lawyer relationship, however, is governed by interlocking rules from both sides.
As 2020 IndyBar President Andy Campbell is off in “trial prep nightmare-land,” he invited me to give an update on Marion Superior Court operations and the new Community Justice Center campus.
Get on board with the local legal community: nominations are being accepted now for positions on the board of directors for both the Indianapolis Bar Association and the Indianapolis Bar Foundation! Nominations of colleagues as well as self-nominations are welcomed.
The focus of the Virtual Ask-a-Lawyer was to provide a place for people to get real help, direction and referrals, especially as the full impact of COVID-19 was shuttering businesses and causing waves of unemployment. To date, since May 2020, more than 100 attorneys have volunteered through the virtual desk and over the telephone to provide answers to more than 1,352 questions.
The world has changed and the world of public education has been forced to change along with it. The reassuring thing for families is that while the world of education has changed, the laws as to what must be provided for children with special needs have not.
Get on board with the local legal community: nominations are being accepted now for positions on the board of directors for both the Indianapolis Bar Association and the Indianapolis Bar Foundation! Nominations of colleagues as well as self-nominations are welcomed.
The strength of our Indianapolis legal community has always been the pipeline of dedicated senior lawyers and law school alumni who invest deeply in our young lawyers to provide them with a guiding light. Your weapon to fight the ill effects of COVID-19 is an iron-willed commitment to mentorship.
Many House members on both sides of the aisle are familiar with local government issues. But Brian Bosma’s exit from lawmaking is significant in terms of the loss of institutional knowledge and history of those issues from the General Assembly’s leadership.
When we learned that Jim passed away earlier this month, the outpouring of support and remembrances from past IndyBar and Indianapolis Bar Foundation presidents was immense. Nearly every IndyBar leader with whom I’ve interacted in my 15-year career shared a memory of how Jim touched the profession, and often their individual practices, in a tangibly positive way.
Whether you’re interested in adding pro bono to your practice for next year’s reporting requirements or are simply interested in increasing the number of hours you spend on reportable pro bono legal services, there are several ways you can get involved.
I bet most of you reading this are better at lawyering than teaching. I know I am. Yet, many lawyer parents across the greater Indianapolis community, and all over the country, are finding themselves in the role of teacher this fall as many schools are starting the year in a virtual format or a hybrid in-person and virtual format. As working parents, and especially as lawyers who bill for their time, we are up against some bad math.
The IndyBar is in the process of forming a support group for attorney members experiencing infertility and pregnancy loss. This group will provide a safe, supportive environment for participants, with both peer and facilitator-led sessions.
The unique financial problems occasioned by COVID-19 and the lockdown responses of federal, state and municipal governments draw into sharp focus the fiduciary duties of directors and officers when addressing economic distress for their entities.