Expect to see David E. Cook's face at the Marion County Public Defender Agency a little longer than anticipated.The chief public defender is delaying for a month his departure - originally planned for Feb. 15 - to help make sure the agency has adequate leadership while its board of directors searches for a successor. Cook is stepping down after 12 years as the county's top public defender to work for immigration firm Gresk & Singleton in Indianapolis.Because the agency needed leadership...

Two central Indiana law firms have merged in order to provide their clients with all their legal needs in one firm. Indianapolis law firm Coleman Stevenson and The Montel Law Firm of Carmel officially became Coleman Stevenson & Montel today. The merger, which has been in talks for three months, came out of need, said Gerald Coleman, partner at Coleman Stevenson & Montel.The Montel Law Firm often represents clients in business and transaction work, but doesn't do much in terms of litigation,...

Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg has established what the firm believes is the first nanotechnology practice group in Indiana. The firm started the practice group in anticipation of the impact of nanotechnology upon society, business, and industry in the near future. Nanotechnology refers to a field of applied science and technology relating to the control of matter on the atomic or molecular scale. The technology's applications enter many fields including biotechnology, electrical engineering, and environmental.The practice group is co-chaired by...

The Indiana Supreme Court is being asked to take a legal malpractice case in which an Indianapolis law firm got hit with an $18 million verdict two years ago.Attorneys representing law firm Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe filed a petition for transfer with the state's highest court Monday in Frederick W. Dennerline III, et al. v. Jim Atterholt, Insurance Commissioner of the State of Indiana, No. 49A04-0610-CV-557. This move comes following the Indiana Court of Appeals ruling in May that upheld the...

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...

A northern Indiana attorney wants to make sure women in her community are aware of the No. 1 killer of American women - heart disease. Along with several organizations, Dana Leon is chairing the Heart Truth campaign of Kosciusko County. Leon, a partner at Warsaw law firm Rockhill Pinnick, became involved with the Heart Truth campaign through her participating Tri-Kappa sorority. The sorority was approached by the county's community foundation to help stage an event for women's health in the community....

The Indiana Bar Foundation is seeking nominations for several pro bono awards and applicants for its scholarship for new attorneys to attend the Indiana State Bar Association's annual fall meeting. The Randall T. Shepard Award recognizes an individual's commitment and contributions to the pro bono movement in Indiana. The Pro Bono Publico Award highlights contributions made by volunteer attorneys to assist Hoosiers' access the justice system. The IBF also recognizes lawyers, law firms, and bar associations for excellence in providing information...

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 earthquake that devastated so much of southwestern China this month hit close to home for Baker & Daniels attorney Calvin Ding. Ding, who focuses on international law, has a 9-year-old cousin who was in a school leveled by the 8.0-magnitude quake. The school was in Dujiangyan, a city near the epicenter in Sichuan province. Ding got a call last week to inform him that, aside from scrapes and bruises, the girl was OK. Yin Ding managed to crawl out of...

An Indianapolis law firm has been holding its breath for two years. Ever since getting hit with a potentially devastating $17.9 million jury verdict on a legal malpractice claim in state court, the 45-year-old law firm Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe hasn't been able to put the focus on its daily client business without acknowledging that dark storm cloud hovering overhead. Now, the storm cloud has dissolved. In what may be the state's largest-ever liquidation return of its kind, the Indiana...

A handful of law firms made their way to the Indianapolis Humane Society's annual Mutt Strut on Sunday, showing off some clever team names and getting some exercise with their pets.Unofficial figures show that about 4,000 pet owners came to the 2008 event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including seven teams from Indianapolis law firms. Those firms were:•Baker & Daniels - Baker's Dozen•Barnes & Thornburg - Barnes & Terrier•Bingham McHale - Bingham Bulldogs•Findling Garau Germano & Pennington - The Tails of...

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...

An Indianapolis law firm has paid $50,000 to the Indiana Department of Insurance in a deal that extricates it from an $18 million jury verdict stemming from the collapse of a health insurance trust. The department released Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe from the massive judgment that a Marion County jury handed down against the law firm two years ago. In return, the firm transferred to the department the bad-faith claims it is pursuing against its malpractice insurer, Alabama-based ProNational Insurance...

A federal judge's decision in California this week represents a significant legal loss for an Indianapolis intellectual property firm relating to the publicity rights of Marilyn Monroe.U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow of the Central District of California in Los Angeles ruled Monday that Marilyn Monroe LLC and Indianapolis-based CMG Worldwide don't own rights of publicity, and that a studio and licensing company have the right to market and license images of the famous actress.The judge's action reversed a ruling from...

The 64 partners of Sommer Barnard unanimously voted today to approve the firm's merger with Cincinnati-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister. The vote means Taft Stettinius & Hollister will absorb Sommer Barnard on May 1, meaning Indianapolis will lose one of its largest law firms. Sommer Barnard was founded in 1969 and has 103 lawyers, making it the seventh-largest in the city, according to Indianapolis Business Journal statistics. Taft Stettinius, whose roots date to 1885, has 200 lawyers in Cincinnati and additional...

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...

Court battles aren't yet over for a Schererville woman sentenced to 27 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in May to facilitating prostitution and money laundering.

Indianapolis law firm Locke Reynolds has won an appeal in a case with a former paralegal who sued over allegations that she was fired because of her race.

Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburgh has lost two of its lobbyists who have been linked to a congressional bribery and corruption scandal surrounding jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.Kevin A. Ring resigned Friday from the Washington, D.C., office, managing partner Alan Levin said. This comes more than a year after another lobbyist, Neil Volz, severed his ties with the firm ;s Washington office.The resignation comes amid an ongoing corruption investigation with congressional ties, and Ring ;s background working at Abramoff ;s law firm in...

An Indianapolis law firm partner who has led three state agencies is the new administrator for Marion County courts. On Monday, the four-judge executive committee chose Glenn R. Lawrence to fill the position, which has been vacant since the former administrator Ron Miller resigned in late March. Since then, Senior Judge Richard Good has been filling in as interim administrator.The committee offered Lawrence the $93,500-salary job Monday afternoon, according to presiding Superior Judge Gerald Zore. Judges had received about 20 applications...

Allen County has lost a former judge who served with distinction in the military's legal arm in the 1950s and returned to serve the county's legal community for four decades as an attorney and jurist.Senior Allen Superior Judge Vern E. Sheldon, who retired in 1998 after more than a decade on the bench, died in his home Sunday after a short illness. He was 77.Judge Sheldon was appointed to the bench in 1985 and elected in 1990, then re-elected without opposition...

The Indiana Supreme Court plans to appoint a judge pro tem for Lawrence Circuit Court within days after the local judge was found dead at his home earlier this week.Judge Richard D. McIntyre, 51, of Bedford was discovered in his detached garage Tuesday evening by his wife. The Lawrence County Coroner determined he died of likely self-induced carbon monoxide poisoning, according to an announcement this morning.The Lawrence County native had been the Circuit judge for nearly 20 years, and the county...

The Indiana Supreme Court is being asked to toss out a trial judge's order for a Terre Haute mayoral race recount because the petitioner failed to include the winner's middle initial.Attorney James Bopp Jr. with Terre Haute law firm Bopp Coleson & Bostrom filed an emergency request Thursday afternoon for the justices to intervene in the recount challenge, contending that Vigo Circuit Judge David Bolk didn't have jurisdiction to order a recount from the Nov. 6 election. Democratic Mayor Kevin Burke...

Indiana has lost an attorney considered by colleagues to be one of the most educated lawyers in the state about alcohol beverage law.Merrillville attorney Stephen M. Brenman died in his sleep early Tuesday morning. Colleagues said they were not yet aware of details and arrangements being finalized this week.Brenman, a second-generation lawyer, practiced with his son, Jeremy, at their full-service, boutique Law Offices of Stephen M. Brenman. His office is closed until Monday, according to a recording at his office today.The...

Glen J. Beams, a former Allen County prosecutor and respected attorney in Fort Wayne, died Saturday.Beams, 92, died of lymphoma at his home on Lake Wawasee in Kosciusko County. He had earned his law degree in 1939 from the Indiana School of Law and served as a partner in the Helmke Beams Law Firm from 1946 until his death. The northern Indiana community remembers him for winning the 1954 election race for county prosecutor, where he served one term before losing...