Indiana's four law schools once again were among the rankings for the U.S. News & World Report's annual report of graduate schools.Based on data from fall 2007 and early 2008, three of the state's law schools ranked in the top 100 of schools. The University of Notre Dame Law School is at 22, up from 28 last year; Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington, 36th, retained its ranking from last year; and Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis is...

The Black Law Students Association and the American Constitution Society of Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington are sponsoring the program, "Intersection of Race and Jury Composition with the Death Penalty" April 1.Panelists for the program are: Marla Sandys, associate professor of criminal justice at IU - Bloomington; Paula Sites, Indiana Public Defender Council; and Jessie Cook, an attorney in private practice who has dealt with death penalty cases. In addition to discussing the issue of race and the death...

The International Human Rights Law Society at Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis will have more money to work with now than its $375 budget from the beginning of the school year, thanks to the organization's vice president. The IHRLS is the student group that has researched, written, and presented shadow reports to experts for the United Nations Human Rights Council. Funds for the organization bring international human rights experts to speak at the school, present movie nights that are...

While Feb. 29, which happens every four years, marks just another day for most, a first-year law student at Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis will celebrate his sixth birthday today.Mike Doversberger, an Elkhart native born Feb. 29, 1984, said he might use the birthday as a way to break the ice at a job interview today. Later, he will celebrate with friends and family."I like to put it on the resume that I graduated from Notre Dame (undergrad) before...

Abraham Navarro will succeed Judge Daniel F. Donahue as judge of the Clark Circuit Court. Judge Donahue is stepping down later this week. Navarro has served as a deputy prosecutor in the Floyd County Prosecutor's Office since 2002. Prior to working in the prosecutor's office, Navarro was an Allen Superior Court judicial law clerk from 2001 to 2002. Navarro was admitted to the bar in November 2002. He's a member of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council and the Indiana Criminal Justice...

The legal aid clinic for the city of Hammond has moved just one mile away from its old home into a new space donated by law firm Rubino Ruman Crosmer Smith Sersic & Polen in Dyer.The clinic moved between Christmas and New Year's.Lawyers who do work for the city or are on contract with the city are required to give hours to the clinic. The firm had lawyers who could be called on to help, which is how the idea came...

The Indiana Supreme Court Lecture, "Anatomy of Freedom: John Adams on a Global Scale," will feature as speaker the first female chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The lecture begins at 5 p.m. March 25 at the Wynne Courtroom at Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. Margaret H. Marshall was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 1999. Originally from South Africa, she came to the U.S. to pursue her master's degree at Harvard...

A recent graduate of Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington has been given the first Terry and Judy Albright Pro Bono and Public Interest Award. The law firm Baker & Daniels has sponsored the award in honor of the couple. Alex Kornya received the award for the significant work he's done in pro bono and public interest areas. Kornya served as a student advisor and co-director of the Protective Order Project and worked with other anti-domestic violence organizations. He also...

The Evansville law firm Kahn Dees Donovan & Kahn is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special community presentation May 1. The firm has brought in Dr. Daniel Shapiro of the Harvard Negotiation Project to speak at the program, "Negotiation Power at Work and Home: Using Emotions to Turn Conflict into Mutual Gain." Shapiro is a psychologist and lecturer at Harvard Law School and has trained world leaders, corporate managers, and individuals how to negotiate the resolution of international conflict, hostage...

Any St. Joseph County attorney who wants to be a trial court judge can now apply for that opportunity.The county's Judicial Nominating Commission is accepting applications until 5 p.m. Aug. 29 for the judicial vacancy when St. Joseph Superior Judge William T. Means retires Sept. 30. The commission, which will recommend candidates for consideration to the governor, met last week to set a schedule for the application process.Interviews for applicants will be Sept. 12 in South Bend.According to state law, the...

A former Marion Superior Court judge and Indianapolis City-County councilor died March 5 of natural causes. Judge Z. Mae Jimison was the first African-American woman to serve as judge in Marion Superior Court. Judge Jimison, 64, served on the bench from 1996 to 2002 and spent much of that time creating and supervising Marion County's Drug Court. In 1999, she applied to become a justice on the Indiana Supreme Court after Justice Myra C. Selby announced she would step down to return to...

Indiana has lost a longtime Marion County judge who's been on the probate bench for three decades and was considered one of the state's top probate jurists.Marion Superior Judge Charles Deiter, 71, who presided over the court's probate division, lost a battle to cancer this morning, according to his colleague and longtime friend Judge Tanya Walton Pratt."He was a wonderful judge, someone who was well-loved by everyone in the community and on the bench," said Judge Pratt, who said the two...

The death penalty is the topic of a film screening and discussion May 22 presented by the Indiana Coalition Acting to Suspend Executions (InCASE), Indiana University School of Law -Indianapolis' Law Students Against Capital Punishment, and the Independent Film Channel. The film, "At the Death House Door," is a personal and intimate look at the death penalty in Texas from the perspective of Carroll Pickett, a pastor who served 15 years as the death house chaplain in a Huntsville prison unit and presided...

The Notre Dame Law School building will get a new name as a result of an alumnus who has donated $15 million to the school.Robert F. Biolchini, and his wife, Frances, donated the money to the school to help underwrite the renovation of the building. After renovations are finished, the building will be renamed Biolchini Hall. Renovations include an expanded Krege Law Library, two new 50-seat classrooms, new space for the Notre Dame Law Review, and new offices and workspace for...

Valparaiso University School of Law will offer CLE credits for those who attend the law school's 11th annual Tabor Institute in Legal Ethics Thursday.

A proposed law school for Indianapolis, the Abraham Clark School of Law, has selected its board of directors and set its next informational meeting.The board is composed of attorneys Jerrold Abramowitz, Richard Bash, Susan Williams, and Patrick Brown; Greg Kranz, who is in the information technology field; and Sonja Brown, a business owner and part-time legal assistant. Mark Montefiori is the founder and director of the law school with 13 years of experience in higher education. There is also an informal...

There will be an information session July 11 for those interested in the Abraham Clark School of Law, a for-profit school proposed for Indianapolis. The session will begin at 6 p.m. at Springhill Suites, 11855 N. Meridian St., Carmel.The law school is being started by Mark Montefiori, a businessman with 13 years of experience in higher education. It's still early in the planning stages, but the goal is for the school to have an emphasis on teaching business people about the...

Dan McGrath, a 1L at Notre Dame Law School, finished 31st overall among all men, and was the 18th American finisher in the 111th Boston Marathon on April 16, the law school ;s Web site reported. McGrath had an official time of 2:25:59: a pace of 5 minutes, 33 seconds per mile for 26.2 miles.McGrath, 23, who listed his hometown as Lynbrook, N.Y., was the fifth overall runner who was not classed in the ‘Elite ; group. At this year ;s...

Indiana has lost a pioneer who has been a fixture in the personal injury legal community for more than six decades.Earl C. Townsend Jr., who co-founded Indianapolis law firm Townsend & Townsend and went on to become one of the most recognized names in the legal community, has died. He was 92.Along with his brother John, he helped establish the law firm Townsend & Townsend in downtown Indianapolis after graduating in 1940 from the University of Michigan Law School. He remained...

"What Is War?" is the name and subject of a conference at the Hesburgh Center for International Studies Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame Sept. 14 and 15. The University of Notre Dame Law School, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University are sponsoring the conference. It is free and open to the public.The discussions will feature Gen. Sir Michael Rose (British Forces, retired), and Gen. William...

The governor announced today that Marion Superior Judge Cale Bradford will be the newest jurist on the Indiana Court of Appeals.Judge Bradford will replace Judge Patrick D. Sullivan, who is retiring Aug. 1 as a result of reaching mandatory retirement age of 75. He will represent the second judicial district, which encompasses 19 counties in central Indiana.Gov. Mitch Daniels got nominations from the Judicial Nominating Commission May 18 and by law was required to make a decision within 60 days. Judge...

Jonna Kane MacDougall, assistant dean for advancement at Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis, has received the IUPUI Nan Bohan Community Engagement Award for her work with Outrun the Sun, a nonprofit organization she co-founded in 2004. The organization was created to help raise awareness about the risks of sun exposure and funds for melanoma education and research. MacDougall was one of two inaugural recipients Sept. 11 of the Bohan award, which was created to recognize "ongoing promotion of a...

The Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will sponsor "Death Row Ministry and Indiana ;s Upcoming Execution of David Woods" from noon to 12:50 p.m. Wednesday in the University of Notre Dame Law School ;s courtroom, Room 121. The event is open to the public.The speaker is Wanda Callahan, a pastor of the Church of Brethren in Goshen. She has counseled death row inmates for more than 30 years, both in Florida and Indiana. Callahan will speak about the death penalty,...

A University of Notre Dame Law School student will appear on the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Sept. 14 and 17.Jaclyn Sexton is a first-year law student from North Attleboro, Mass. Notre Dame students and South Bend residents can watch "Millionaire" on WNDU-TV (channel 16/cable channel 8) at 1 p.m. Other Indiana stations that air the show can be found on http://www.millionairetv.com/tunein.html.Sexton took her mother, Janice, to the taping, according to a press release from the law school....

University of Oxford professor Jonathan Herring will present a lecture - "Entering the Fog: On the Borderlines of Mental Capacity" - for the public Sept. 12 at noon in the Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington moot court room.Herring is on campus as Indiana Law's George P. Smith II Distinguished Visiting Professor-Chair through Sept. 15.He has authored leading texts in family and medical law, and his research in these areas covers hot-button topics including the regulation of pregnancy and enforced...