House Bill 1068 would allow for the creation of local justice reinvestment advisory councils modeled after the statewide JRAC. The local councils would be tasked with reviewing criminal justice practices on a county or regional level, collecting data and reporting back to JRAC, which would use the data to make policy decisions.
With the search underway for only the third director of the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission, one thing seems certain: The court will take its time finding a successor for retired leader G. Michael Witte.
Two Indianapolis lawyers who had an idea to start a pro bono mediation service for family law cases were stunned by the reception from the local legal community, as more than 100 answered a call for volunteers. “It’s mind-blowing,” said one of the organizers of a program described as “blue jeans mediation.”
Shared experiences bring people together. That’s particularly true of the members of the Rudy Lozano Bar Association, a northwest Indiana group dedicated to serving Latino legal professionals. Formerly known as the Northwest Indiana Hispanic Bar Association, the group filed articles of incorporation under its new name in February 2020. Its namesake is the late federal Judge Rodolfo “Rudy” Lozano, who died in July 2018.
Indianapolis attorney Ron Katz Katz’s creation honoring the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the first installation in what the Indianapolis Bar Association hopes becomes a member-driven art exhibit at the new downtown IndyBar headquarters.
Jim Lauck, senior counsel at Kroger Gardis & Regas, recently hit the milestone of donating 20 gallons of blood. Reaching the milestone was a 40-year process.
In a Q&A with Indiana Lawyer, new Southern District of Indiana Mario Garcia said he anticipates utilizing his background and diverse legal experiences to help people resolve their legal issues quickly and justly.
Indiana University Maurer School of Law graduates who last year started an expungement help desk marked scores of personal victories through their work under trying circumstances and hope to build on early successes that helped clients in dozens of counties.
Just one year after introducing a new program intended to bring additional child support to custodial parents and more freedom for noncustodial parents, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office sees promise in its Good Faith Initiative.
As coronavirus cases across the Hoosier state spiked to record levels in recent weeks and winter quickly approached, many attorneys made the hard decision to break with cherished holiday traditions and distance themselves from family and friends for the holidays.
A group of incarcerated veterans dedicated to encouraging their fellow servicemen participating in a veteran’s treatment court program have, for the past several years, made an impact by taking up their pencils and paintbrushes.
Twenty years ago, most people learned about major court cases and trials from newspapers or local television stations. But with myriad online distribution channels and social media available at virtually everyone’s fingertips, staying up to date with the latest news has become and more accessible than ever.
At a time when judges are interviewing and hiring to fill upcoming judicial clerkship positions, some former and current law clerks are reflecting on their own experiences and offering suggestions to newcomers on how to prepare.
The biblical words “love is patient, love is kind,” have significant meaning to close friends Lonisha Johnson and Kristy Johnson, both of whom are incarcerated at the Clark County Jail.
The silence was deafening. Little to no calls were coming in to the Middle Way House’s domestic violence help and crisis line in the months after Indiana’s stay at home orders, leaving Debra Morrow in a panic. “It got deathly quiet, and to us, that was horrifying. We were worried about those who couldn’t reach out.”
A recent survey of nearly 1,100 young lawyers found that many new attorneys are making major financial, personal and career sacrifices as a result of their student loans. That includes decisions ranging from marriage and children to making big purchases or taking vacations. The survey hits home for many young Indiana lawyers.
Attorney Ashley Eve was one of more than a dozen death penalty protesters who claimed that their First Amendment rights were violated when Indiana State Police set up roadblocks that kept capital punishment protestors almost 2 miles away from the federal prison in Terre Haute while three executions took place there last month. Eve was motivated to a career in law by her opposition to the death penalty.
“I knew that I was the first trial and that if I screwed up, nobody else would get to go, so I wanted these people to be comfortable,” Lake Superior Judge Bruce Parent said. Parent and others shared their perspectives on the first Indiana jury trial permitted after court proceedings were suspended due to the pandemic.
When in-person legal education events became virtually impossible during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic chose to go virtual.
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.