The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (“SECURE Act”) was enacted on December 20, 2019. The SECURE Act dramatically changes how an individual should structure his or her estate plan if there are qualified retirement accounts involved.
With all the challenges facing bench, bar, and litigants in this difficult time, reflecting on something or someone good seems particularly appropriate for today’s column, rather than the usual nuance of jurisdiction and procedure. Laura Briggs is, by all means, someone good, indeed extraordinary. Most federal practitioners in the Southern District know this well, having benefited from Laura’s dedicated service as clerk since 1998.
Governor Holcomb and Mayor Hogsett (and countless other government and business leaders) are executing their plans to reopen the “new normal” economy. The IndyBar is no different. We are working hard on a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan that will allow some staff to return to IndyBarHQ in the coming weeks.
When we all set our new year’s resolutions for 2020, none of us likely envisioned trying to achieve those goals in the midst of a pandemic. Phrases like “unprecedented” and “difficult times” are heard every five minutes. Staying at home by yourself and binge-watching Netflix while eating ice cream from the gallon bucket constitutes saving the world.
We are almost halfway through 2020 and have seen the stock market fall, rally and fall again. We have been trapped in our houses unable to help our unstable economy, attempting to find new hobbies to pass the time and, of course, practicing social distancing. The silver lining to this pandemic is that it has provided an opportunity for us to better ourselves, and with falling interest rates, transfer our clients’ wealth to the next generation.
Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush staunchly supports and promotes well-being in the legal profession. When she talks to Indiana judges, lawyers and law students, Rush frequently mentions the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program. During her State of the Judiciary speech in January, the first topic Rush mentioned was Indiana’s problem-solving courts, which focus on issues including drugs and mental health.
Under normal circumstances, we would try to fill this column with something useful. We would try to give you tips that may help your practice, and we would hope that our column would give you a teensy-weensy bit of knowledge that might help you avoid an ethical problem down the road. However, these are not normal circumstances, so we feel like offering something a little different.
Zoom meetings are starting to grow on me, sweatpants are way more comfortable than a suit and Justice Clarence Thomas is letting loose during telephonic oral arguments that are being broadcast in real time on C-SPAN. Despite these nice diversions from reality, I think we are all ready for life to get back to normal sooner rather than later and especially to be rid of the financial stress associated with this time.
One of the unexpected bonuses of our current circumstance is that we have the time to reflect. Indeed, few of us have lived through a time that has had any greater cause to reflect than right now.
Pro bono and legal aid efforts are not immune to the adjustments needed to serve clients in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Court closures and restrictions on in-person gatherings have forced legal services organizations such as Indiana Legal Services Inc. to get creative about how they can continue to engage volunteer attorneys and provide legal services to those in need.
Offering a couple of classic movie recommendations, movie reviewer Robert Hammerle also offers fond remembrances of attorney friends and their loved ones.
The somewhat solitary experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed several lessons that directly affect the practice of law, the ripple effects of which we may feel for a long time.
As the country focuses its attention on COVID-19, and with only essential businesses operating in much of the country, many private companies in a variety of industries are suffering the economic impact of the current public health crisis.
Admittedly, we millennials are a bit coddled. But what preceding generations — and especially the legal profession — fail to appreciate is a millennial’s we-can-do-this-better attitude, particularly where technology is concerned. And arguably, that attitude should win the day right now.
While the world has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic since we selected our honorees earlier this year, we are pleased that one feature of our signature award program has remained the same: We couldn’t have asked for a more impressive Leadership in Law class for 2020.
While all voters in the state are eligible to vote by mail in the upcoming primary election, if you live outside of Marion County, you are left to fend for yourself. Lack of leadership on the part of Secretary of State Connie Lawson means that not all voters will have the same opportunity to vote.
The spring semester is coming to a close in Bloomington, but in ways none of us expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, when classes resumed remotely March 30, our students, faculty and staff more than rose to the occasion and pulled together, and the transition has been smoother than expected.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a multifaceted grief storm. It is an assault on our physical, emotional, psychological, sociological and spiritual well-being. Grit and grace can help us weather this storm and others.
Movie reviewer Robert Hammerle cannot get to the theater due to the pandemic, but stuck at home, he revisits a Hollywood classic worthy of seeing again or discovering for the first time.
What is a mediator to do when faced with the dilemma of a key witness who refuses to show up to a court-ordered mediation? I am asking which course lawyers thing the mediator should take — or if there is another under such circumstances.