Bar Crawl is Indiana Lawyer’s section highlighting bar association news around the state. The IL strives to include bar association news and trends in its regular stories, and we would like to include more news from specialty and county bars. If you’d like to submit an update about your bar association or a photo from an event your bar association has hosted, or if you have questions about having your bar association news included in the newspaper, please send it to Jenny Montgomery at jmontgomery@ibj.com, along with contact information for any follow-up questions at least two weeks in advance of the issue date.

ISBA solo and small firm event

The Indiana State Bar Association’s Solo & Small Firm Conference will be June 2 through 4 at the French Lick Springs Hotel. Early registration deadline is May 18, and registration may be made via the bar’s website: www.inbar.org. Rooms may be reserved online at www.frenchlick.com or by phone at 888-936-9360 (the group code for this event is 0611ISB). For more information, contact Maryann Williams at 800-266-2581 or mwilliams@inbar.org.

IBA bench bar conference

The Indianapolis Bar Association will host the 2011 Bench Bar Conference June 16 through 18 at French Lick Springs Resort & Casino. The deadline for discount room rates is May 16. Rooms may be reserved online at www.frenchlick.com (the group code for the event is 0611IBA) or by calling 888-936-9360 and asking for the IBA rate. Registration is open to members of the IBA, all attorneys licensed in Indiana, conference sponsors, and their personal guests. For more information, contact Julie Armstrong at jarmstrong@indybar.org.

Violence response conference

The St. Joseph County Bar Association will host a Community Coordinated Response Conference from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 19 and 20 at Morris Park Country Club, 2200 McKinley Ave., South Bend. The cost to attend each day is $49 and includes continental breakfast and lunch.

Presented by Family & Children’s Center, YWCA North Central Indiana, and the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the conference will be led by trainers who specialize in the Duluth Model. This model provides a method for communities to coordinate their responses to domestic violence through an inter-agency approach that brings together justice and human service interventions with the primary goal of protecting victims from ongoing abuse. Registration deadline is May 13. For more information, contact Mary Burzynski at 574-259-5666 or marketing@fccin.org.

IBF Impact Fund grant project

The Indianapolis Bar Foundation has reorganized its grant-making activity with the intent to provide greater impact with its dollars. Its Impact Fund is now organized to provide a single high-dollar grant to an Indianapolis area project meeting the purpose of the IBF. The 2011 grant amount is $35,000.

To be considered, a project must advance the administration of justice and an understanding of the law through philanthropy, education, and service. The IBF wishes to support a project presented by an organization or collaborating organizations that creates a substantial positive impact in central Indiana.

Criteria for the grant specify that: project funding may be awarded only to non-profit organizations; the project benefits the central Indiana community, as a whole, including its impact on the image of the legal profession; the project presents opportunities for members of the central Indiana legal community to participate on a pro bono or modest means basis; the project articulates a plan to be sustained by other funding beyond the potential financial award from the IBF; the project represents either a new venture for the applicant organization(s) or a plan for significant supplementation to an existing service.

Applications are due by June 15, 2011, and are available at www.indybar.org.

Funds will be awarded by August.•