Legal professionals celebrate musical talent during IndyBar Foundation’s first talent show

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Hoosiers won’t be hard-pressed to find quality talent among the Indianapolis legal community. And not just talent in the courtroom.

More than a dozen Indiana lawyers, judges and law professors performed on stage at the Indianapolis Bar Foundation’s first “IndyBar’s Got Talent” event Saturday evening.

Hosted at The Vogue in Broad Ripple, the event showcased a variety of talent ranging from energized rap and vengeful country love songs to concert piano and saxophone solos.

Performers who took to the stage included:

  • “The Joven Brothers,” featuring Marion Superior Court Judge Jim Joven
  • Bob Jalaie, senior patent counsel at Cook Medical Technologies LLC
  • Solo practitioner Stasia Demos Mills
  • “Guilty as Charged,” featuring Indiana Southern District Court Magistrate Judge Tim Baker and attorney Ashley Hart
  • Marion Superior Court Judge Mark Stoner
  • Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath attorneys Julian Harrell, Abe Jentry Shanehsaz and Pablo Svirsky
  • “An Innocent Duo,” featuring attorney Travis Jensen and Gregg Jones
  • “D&D Music Factory,” featuring attorney Erin Durnell and Jason Davidson
  • “The Keith Hancock Trio,” featuring attorneys Keith Hancock, Elliot Burch and Jimmy Pike
  • “Floozie and the Tramps,” featuring attorneys Elizabeth Millikan, Jeff McClarnon and Kevin Minnick
  • Bose McKinney & Evans attorney Phil Zimmerly
  • Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law professors John Hill and Jeffrey Cooper

Kicking off the night, with an acoustic guitar in hand, was Zimmerly, who sang his own rendition of the globally popular hit “Old Town Road” as an anthem for commercial litigators. He then sang a more reminiscent version of Peter, Paul and Mary’s “If I Had a Hammer” in honor of the late Bose McKinney attorney Ronald Elberger.

Hill followed by playing piano and singing two Elton John songs, drawing laughs from the audience as he likened the lyrics “What do I have to do to make you care?” as a plea to his civil procedure class.

Bringing a lively comedic musical number, Joven and his brother performed a traditional Pilipino song with spats back and forth between the brothers about what song they were actually supposed to be singing.

Demos Mills, with an accordion in hand, who was joined on stage by bass and guitar players, sang Kitty Well’s “Will Your Lawyer Talk to God?” which drew high praise from the crowd.

Stasia Demos Mills, center, plays the accordion and sings during her performance during “IndyBar’s Got Talent” at The Vogue in Broad Ripple on Saturday. Submitted photo.

Up next was Harrell as BeSpoke317, who strode out on stage with microphone in hand following an instrumental introduction by Jentry Schanehsaz on the drums and Svirsky playing bass guitar. He brought the crowd to its feet for his energizing rap performance.

Bringing more laughs was Cooper with his rendition of King George III’s “I Know Him” from the hit musical, “Hamilton.” Other performances included Baker playing guitar and harmonic simultaneously while Hart sang; a concert piano number from Stoner; and a rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me” with an accompanying saxophone solo from the Keith Hancock Trio.

As the performances came to a close, all musicians gathered on stage for a colorful balloon drop across the cheering audience.

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