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This year, the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana renamed its Diplomat Award, one of the highest honors from the organization, after attorney John Trimble of the firm Lewis Wagner & Trimble.
Trimble died in July at the age of 69.
Before his death, members of the DTCI board came together to discuss the idea of naming the award after him, DTCI president-elect Norris Cunningham told The Indiana Lawyer.
“John Trimble was just an absolute beacon in our legal community. I’ve not ever worked with a lawyer that I held in higher esteem than John Trimble,” Cunningham said.
The award honors an attorney who has made outstanding contributions during their career to representing clients in the defense of litigation matters. In June, the organization announced the award would be renamed the John C. Trimble Diplomat Award in celebration of the attorney, who the organization’s board of directors said, “embodies the criteria that we emphasize with this award.”
Trimble forged his career over four decades at Lewis Wagner, which was renamed Lewis Wagner & Trimble in his honor earlier this year, and was recognized as “one of Indiana’s most sought-after legal minds,” particularly in complex litigation and mediation, according to the firm.
He received several awards and honors during his career, including the DTCI Diplomat Award in 2013. Trimble served as president of the Indianapolis Bar Association, Board of Visitors chair at the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law, and president of the board of the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society.
In 2024, he was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by then-Governor Eric Holcomb.
While Trimble’s work primarily focused on practice areas including insurance coverage, lawyer and insurance agent malpractice, and mediation, the principles he exemplified as an attorney are celebrated across practice areas.
“If you’re a member of DTCI and you’ve been around for any amount of time, you know this man, and you know what he’s contributed to the legal community, to the state and so, we really felt that it would be appropriate that anyone who gets chosen for one of our highest honors, knowing that it’s carrying the name of someone who was widely, deeply respected by all of our membership,” Cunningham said.
At this year’s annual conference, the inaugural John C. Trimble Diplomat Award will be given to Richard Shoultz, a partner at Lewis Wagner & Trimble.
For more than 30 years, Shoultz has represented clients across Indiana in areas like fire loss, insurance, construction, product liability, and commercial litigation.
Shoultz is being celebrated for his contributions to the defense bar and DTCI, and the traits he embodies that reflect the intention behind the award. Beyond his skills in the courtroom and with clients, the DTCI board of directors recognizes Shoultz for the honorable traits he shares with the award’s namesake.
“What [Shoultz] really shares with John Trimble, and I’m certain it’s why you would have them in the same law firm for so long together, is a real sense of graciousness and civility in the practice of law, and someone who’s just highly respected by all the lawyers, even those who oppose them,” Cunningham said. “I think that’s a wonderful legacy for John Trimble.”•
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