In This Issue of Indiana Lawyer

FEB. 2 – 15, 2011

Meet the attorney who works with elderly Hoosiers who have housing issues. Law school administrators discuss a New York Times article about loans and jobs. Two attorneys from the same firm have oral arguments before the Indiana Supreme Court on the same day, but on different cases.

Top StoriesBack to Top

Pro bono districts hire new plan administrators

With almost half of the pro bono districts losing plan administrators since mid-2009, it is not going to be an easy job to replace the institutional knowledge of the outgoing plan administrators. Districts 2, 3, 6, 9, 11, and most recently 7 have been forced to tackle that task.

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FocusBack to Top

Motion & discovery

A settlement is the quicker resolution. A trial is the longer resolution. How the initial give and take between attorneys determines what happens.

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OpinionBack to Top

Editorial: Home is where the heart is for Mr. Copsey

We often think of law enforcement officers and firefighters as first-responder types who venture into situations where others are reluctant to go. We’d like to expand the definition of first responder a bit, and bring your attention to an Indianapolis lawyer who after retiring from his day job years ago decided he wasn’t quite done practicing law.

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In BriefBack to Top

Will SCOTUS weigh in on canons?

The Supreme Court of the United States could soon decide if it will take on cases that question Indiana’s judicial canons and whether those types of rules infringe on the free speech rights of seated jurists or those vying for the bench.

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Law firm files class-action lawsuit for estate planning UPL

A Logansport law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against an Indianapolis company that the state’s highest court last year determined engaged in the Unauthorized Practice of Law, suing on behalf of thousands of residents for what attorneys estimate could be $10 million to $20 million in damages.

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Longtime Bloomington law professor dies

An Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor who taught at the law school for more than 40 years died Wednesday. The law school announced Patrick L. Baude, the Ralph F. Fuchs Professor Emeritus of Law and Public Service at Indiana University Maurer School of Law died in his Bloomington home after a brief illness.

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3 dozen TTALT sites around the state

While some attorneys got a day off of work Jan. 17 when courts, government offices, banks, and many businesses were closed to honor the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., more than 200 lawyers volunteered to spend two hours answering legal questions from the public as part of the Indiana State Bar Association’s 10th annual Talk to a Lawyer Today event.

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Lawyer practiced realty, construction law

The Indiana legal community has lost a former prosecutor and private attorney who, during his five decades of practice, established himself as a state and national expert in realty and construction law.

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Court won’t rehear stun-belt case

The full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has said it will not rehear an Indiana case focusing on a convicted murderer’s ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims relating to a stun belt used in court.

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Special SBack to Top

Counsel sees benefit of ‘growing up’ with the company

Working for a company while in law school then staying at that company as a lawyer is fairly rare, but it happens. Even less common for today’s in-house counsel is starting at a company without a bachelor’s degree making $6 per hour doing data entry work and staying with that company through the completion of undergraduate and law school degrees.

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Disciplinary ActionsBack to Top

Bar AssociationsBack to Top

Hebenstreit: Game on

It has been two years in training, watching first Jim, and then Chris, taking notes, learning, and getting prepared. Now the training is over, I am ready to start, and it is “game on.” It is going to be a busy and productive 2011.

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IBA: MPRE Prep Free

For ten years now a passing score on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) has been required for admission to the Indiana Bar.

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