Shelice R. Tolbert, a partner at the Crown Point office of Kopka Pinkus Dolin & Eads, was sworn in as president of the
James C. Kimbrough Bar Association by a longtime bar association supporter and member, Indiana Supreme Court Justice Robert
D. Rucker, who has personal and professional ties to northwest Indiana.
She replaces Trent A. McCain, principal of McCain Law Offices in Merrillville, as head of the association with a historically
African-American membership. Her term will last until April 30, 2011. Her husband, Michael Tolbert, is a past president of
the organization.
Justice Rucker also swore in vice president Alger V. Boswell III of The Boswell Law Office in Hammond; secretary Joann M.
Price of The Law Offices of Joann M. Price in Merrillville; and treasurer Barbara A. Bolling of the Law Office of Barbara
Bolling in Gary.
Tolbert said while the organization never went away completely, the involvement of members, the group’s community work,
and its visibility among non-members has been increasing in recent years. One of her goals is not only to get more young members
to join, whether that’s working with Valparaiso University School of Law – which many members have ties to, including
Justice Rucker – reaching out to younger members in the area’s legal community, or even reaching out to more experienced
members who aren’t as active as they once were.
She said they also welcome Chicago attorneys who have ties to the area and want to remain active in networking with northwest
Indiana lawyers. She said membership is also encouraged for Valparaiso students and recent grads who’ve considered moving
to Chicago.
Tolbert said she and past leaders have helped the organization to become more involved with the Indiana State Bar Association,
as well as bar associations in the area and the state’s other historically African-American bar association, the Marion
County Bar Association in Indianapolis.
In June, members of the Kimbrough Bar Association were invited to the ISBA’s Solo and Small Firm Conference in Merrillville,
and many attended the annual diversity dinner. In January 2011, the organization will host an ISBA president for the third
time with a reception.
That event is open to members, law students, and leaders of other bar associations in the area, including the Lake County
Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association, and the Hispanic Bar Association.
Past ISBA president R. William Jonas and current president Roderick Morgan have both attended receptions hosted by the Kimbrough
Bar Association. Tolbert said she expects ISBA president-elect Jeffrey Lind, who will become president in October, to also
attend a reception for him and others in January.
The organization will also continue community service, she said.
Members participate in Law Day activities at area high schools, as well as Operation LIFT – Lawyers Intercepting Family
Trouble. Past projects have included donations directly to families and the Red Cross following floods in the area. The group
also collects food and grocery store gift cards to provide to local churches during the holidays.
For those looking to get involved, Tolbert said they can contact her at srtolbert@kopkalaw.com or (219) 794-1888.
As far as taking over the role her husband had a couple terms ago?
“He tries to stand back and let me do things on my own, but he will give me tips and advice if I ask him,” she
said. “He’s always been willing to step up any time we need him to.”•
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Bar Crawl is Indiana Lawyer’s new section that will highlight bar association news around the state. We try to include bar association news and trends in our regular stories, but we want 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 to Indiana Lawyer, or if you have questions about having your bar association news included in the newspaper, please send it to Rebecca Berfanger, rberfanger@ibj.com, along with contact information for any follow up questions at least two weeks in advance of the issue date.
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G. Michael Witte letter states he's suspended for three years. The case that got him suspended is identical to my estate case, including havin the Late Judge Deiter recuse himself because Newman had a conflict of interest with the judge. His Modus Operandi is nearly identical.
SIGNED BY G. MICHAEL WITTE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY INDIANA SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION DATED MAY 17, 2012.
Your 6th complaint against Lawrence T. Newman filed on 4/12/2012. On 1/31/12, the Indiana Supreme Court entered an order suspending Lawrence T. Newman’s law license for a period of three years. More important, even after three years, Lawrence Todd Newman will not get his license back unless and until he goes through a separate proceeding to prove that he is fit to practice law. This is not an easy process, and the burden is upon Lawrence T. Newman to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is fit to return to practice.
Because of the length of Lawrence T. Newman’s license suspension and the fact he may never succeed in getting his law license reinstated, we are not opening an investigation file at this time.
Should Lawrence T. Newman seek reinstatement in the future, we will open your file and ask Lawrence T. Newman to address your grievance as part of his burden of proving fitness. We have attempted to notify Lawrence T. Newman that this will be required of him.
It may disappoint you to hear that we will be doing nothing on your grievance at this time. However, the most our office can ever accomplish is to take away a lawyer’s license to practice law. We have already done that, albeit as a result of misconduct in cases other than your own. It makes better sense for our office to focus its limited resources on cases where the lawyers are still actively practicing law.
Is there any justice in the Marion County Superior Court Civil Division? I am the unfortunate victim of a retaliatory lawsuit brought by Lawrence Todd Newman, the attorney from an estate case on which I worked as a unsupervised personal representative in 2006. The contract agreement for that case stated that the estate would be responsible for all attorney fees, but Newman refused to close the nearly insolvent estate when my duties were complete and his fees were paid. Instead, he tried to extort additional attorney fees from me by keeping the case open to address a wrongful death claim, despite the estate’s heir’s lack of interest in pursuing it and an expert doctor’s opinion that it would not be worth doing so. He also knowingly deceived me into believing that a “closing statement” was needed to close the estate, even though this requirement had actually been waived by the estate’s heir. The heir’s attorney filed a motion to have Newman removed from the case. After the court closed the probate case with prejudice (barred from further litigation) Newman illegally re-opened the case in another courtroom.
As a result of complaints filed against him for these and similar actions, Newman has been suspended from practicing law for 18 months by the Indiana Disciplinary Commission. In retaliation, he has filed suit against me demanding additional attorney fees for the 2006 estate case, despite the fact that I made no agreement stating that I would pay any fees from my own assets on behalf of the estate. This lawsuit violates the rules of ethics, due process of law, and equal protection of law. Newman has been allowed to file ridiculous pleadings at an alarming rate and has been supported by a biased court system. Judge Carroll refuses to recuse himself from the case despite the fact that, by his own admission, he intends to grant Newman sanctions regardless of the evidence. When my former counsel discovered that the previous judge on the case, Judge Sosin, was a long-time close friend of Newman’s family, Judge Carroll commented for the record during a hearing that Judge Sosin in so many words “he finds the door “was weak for recusing himself from the case as a result of this obvious conflict of interest.
This case is a public policy issue. Statutes put in place to protect unsupervised personal representatives in probate matters are being ignored. This case will affect thousands of individuals involved in probating and the personal representation of estates. Justice cannot possibly be served as long as a biased judge is allowed to defend a “vexatious litigant,” as Newman has been described by Judge Logan in Bradenton, Florida court. If there is any justice in the Marion County Superior Court Civil Division, this case against me will be dismissed with prejudice.
Every affront to decency and every style adopted by criminals is not per se a constituttional violation. Only fools believe or espouse that.
This was an unnecessary change in law, a needless fiddling with a tax that impacted very very few hoosiers, but one that erodes a tax base benefitting very many hoosiers. Just because some people wanted to chalk up a "tax cut" on their legislative brag-list, and didnt give a fig about replacing the revenue any other way. Really stupid. I am a republican my whole life and this just shames me like hell. I have to use a fake name over this because I know my fellow republicans are all brain washed over tax cutting too.