Indiana

After BigLaw Deferral, 2008 Grad Finds New Job as a Judge

Having his start date deferred from a BigLaw job in Chicago turned out to be a positive career development for a 2008 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. Forced to look for other work, Michael Edwards found a U.S. Navy job in Indiana that made use of his law degree…

Nov 18, 2009 11:40 PM CST

Law Prof Proposes African Boarding School for Troubled Indiana Kids

An Indiana University law professor is proposing an unusual way to help troubled kids: Send them to boarding school in Africa. Law professor Kevin Brown is leading a group of Indiana professors backing a school in the West African nation of Ghana, according to the Associated Press and the Indianapolis…

Nov 17, 2009 3:47 PM CST

Attorney Charged With Attempted Murder in Bizarre Attack on Lawmaker

Watching his father fight a gut-wrenching legal battle motivated Augustus Mendenhall to go to law school. But the decades-old property dispute still festered, resulting in a bizarre incident this past weekend that left the 38-year-old attorney jailed in an attempted murder case and a 66-year-old Indiana state lawmaker battered and…

Nov 2, 2009 10:05 PM CST

Ind. High Court Allows MySpace Entry as Evidence in Murder Trial

Saying that statements made on social networking sites are admissible as evidence of a defendant’s character, the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of a Northern Indiana man who beat his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter to death in 2007. Ian Clark, a confessed drunken “stoner,” had appealed his conviction,…

Oct 16, 2009 4:59 PM CDT

Law Firm Agrees to Pay $40K to Lawyer Who Lost Job After Military Stint

An Indiana law firm accused of refusing to rehire a staff lawyer who served in Iraq has agreed to pay $40,000 to resolve a suit filed by the Justice Department. The suit claimed the Indianapolis firm Mike Norris & Associates refused to rehire Mathew Jeffries after he returned from service…

Oct 1, 2009 1:04 PM CDT

Pizza Shop Must Pay for Worker’s Weight-Loss Surgery, Appeals Court Says

A pizza shop must pay for a worker’s weight-loss surgery, an Indiana appeals court has ruled in a case that is making headlines, because an on-the-job back injury contributed to his subsequent obesity. If Adam Childers doesn’t have the weight-loss surgery, doctors say, the back surgery he needs as a…

Sep 10, 2009 7:50 PM CDT

Ice Miller and Greenebaum Doll End Merger Talks

Nine months of talks have reportedly failed to produce a merger between Ice Miller and Greenebaum Doll & McDonald. A source tells Business First in Louisville that the merger is not going forward, in part because of concerns at the 180-lawyer Greenebaum that the merger would require increased billing rates.…

Sep 10, 2009 6:23 PM CDT

Ex-Lawyer Found Dead as Fed’l Trial in Embezzlement Case Is Hours Away

Accused of embezzling at least $2.2 million from clients over a two-year period, a former lawyer was found dead in his Indiana home early Sunday, hours before he was scheduled to go to trial in federal court in Hammond. Authorities say the death of 46-year-old William Crabtree II was not…

Aug 25, 2009 9:30 PM CDT

Are Fatal Sleeping Accidents a Crime? Prosecutors Differ

Consider the case of a parent who has too much too drink, or takes illegal drugs, and then falls asleep in the same bed with his or her baby. Sometime during the night, the parent rolls onto the baby and kills the child. Is the mishap a crime? Prosecutors are…

Jul 30, 2009 2:48 PM CDT

Lawyer Found Lying in Trash Can Resigns Lucrative City Job

Larry Wilder did the right thing by taking a limo home after celebrating a friend’s good news about passing a real estate licensing exam with a few drinks. However, he didn’t make it the final few feet to his door. Finding him lying headfirst, seemingly asleep, in a trash can…

Jun 25, 2009 4:13 AM CDT

Barnes & Thornburg Continues Shopping Spree, Snaps Up Minn. Firm

For the third time this year, Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg has made an out-of-state acquisition. This time it’s the 22-attorney Parsinen Law Firm P.A. in Minneapolis. The deal takes effect July 1, according to a news release and the Indianapolis Star. Already this year, 500-plus attorney Barnes &…

Jun 22, 2009 12:27 PM CDT

Bose McKinney Agrees to Pay Hefty Legal Bill in ‘Chameleon’ Sanctions Case

A well-known Indiana-based law firm has agreed to pay part of a litigation opponent’s estimated seven-figure legal tab after a June 5 order by a federal judge sanctioning Bose McKinney & Evans and its former client in an environmental contamination case for failing to disclose material in discovery. Under the…

Jun 15, 2009 10:23 PM CDT

Midsize Midwestern Firms Outside of Big Cities Doing Relatively Well

Midsize Midwestern law firms outside of major urban areas are doing better than their larger counterparts, where layoffs are common and associate start dates are being pushed back. Midwestern firms with between 100 and 450 lawyers haven’t relied as much on work stemming from capital markets and mergers and acquisitions.…

Apr 27, 2009 5:39 PM CDT

Baker & Daniels Cuts 5 Associates & Others, Imposes Staff Wage Freeze

In a second round of layoffs since December, Indianapolis-based Baker & Daniels has cut more than 15 positions. The 320-attorney firm has also imposed a wage freeze, according to managing partner Tom Froehle, on what the Indianapolis Business Journal describes as “all operational staff.” Froehle confirms that nine staff positions…

Apr 17, 2009 7:06 PM CDT

Obama Displays ‘Considerable Degree of Cautiousness’ in Court Picks

President Obama quietly announced his first choice for a federal appeals seat in a press release, a stark contrast to President Bush’s 2001 Rose Garden ceremony where he announced 11 appeals court nominees. Now Obama has announced three nominees for federal appeals courts, and all appear to be cautious picks,…

Apr 15, 2009 2:18 PM CDT