MAY 29-JUNE 4, 2026
If Thomas Estabrook gets his law license, he will be the only practicing attorney in the town of Bicknell, which has a population of more than 3,000 people. Not coincidentally, Estabrook also is the town's mayor. Cameron Shaw has more on the story. Also in this week's issue, Maura Johnson reports on the state's efforts to assess how judicial officers can address issues of behavioral health directly in and through their courtrooms.
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The town had no attorney. So the mayor earned a law degree.
As mayor during the day and law student at night — and husband and father at all hours — Estabrook immediately ran into his first and primary obstacle: distance.
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Report details how to address mental health in court
Courts are often perceived as the “government emergency room,” acting as some of the first to see the worst situations of humanity
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Business owners sue city of Boonville over building demolitions
The owners of Stoners Grill and SassFrassy assert that the city intentionally condemned their properties so that it could acquire the land for redevelopment.
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Families file civil complaints against Brownsburg daycare owner, staff
Four lawsuits were filed on behalf of the children on Wednesday in Hendricks Superior Court.
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Indiana Supreme Court declines to reopen Gary lawsuit against gun manufacturers
The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday denied the transfer of the city of Gary’s lawsuit against several gun manufacturers and sellers, effectively ending a nearly 27-year-old effort to hold gun companies liable for firearms used in crimes.
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Elliott I. Pinkie: DRI, DTCI provide education, resources for civil defense attorneys
DRI is the largest membership organization of attorneys defending the interests of individuals and business in civil litigation, nationally and internationally.
Read MoreGerry Regep: Borrowed keys: We graduate thanks to the grace of others
Law school is like friends playing a card game.
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Griffin O’Gara: Commit to engagement to start and enjoy your legal career
In the period immediately following law school and through the first few years of practice, it is easy to feel isolated.
Read MoreZachary Niceley: Showing up matters: Advice for new attorneys on being in office
Physically showing up in the office is a valuable early investment in your career development and future success.
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Special SBack to Top
LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: James Bopp Jr.
Principal Attorney The Bopp Law Firm PC Throughout his decades of service, James Bopp Jr. hasn’t strayed far from his Indiana roots. After starting his legal career as an Indiana deputy attorney general, he formed his own law firm in 1975, which he eventually planted in Terre Haute, his hometown. He’s practiced there ever since. […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Kenneth J. Falk
Legal Director American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana Joining the legal profession is something of a tradition in Kenneth Falk’s family. His grandfather, who was born in Europe, became a lawyer in New York City. His father was a patent attorney who for a time served on his local American Civil Liberties Union screening committee. […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: George Thimlar Angelone
Executive Director Indiana Legislative Services Agency George Angelone has headed the Indiana Legislative Services Agency, a nonpartisan organization within the legislative branch of state government, for 14 years. But he’s been with the agency for a total of 48 — in pretty much every capacity it has to offer. Recruited out of a combined law […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Trevor Belden
Partner Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Trevor Belden has spent his entire legal career at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, having joined in 1999 as a summer associate, when the firm was still Baker & Daniels. He returned after graduating from law school in 2000 and has remained there since. “I’ve been fortunate to […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Jayna Cacioppo
Partner Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Jayna Cacioppo began her career not in law but in retail. “After college I moved to San Francisco to work for Gap Inc. in the corporate office,” Cacioppo recalled. “I loved my four years in corporate retail, but I knew I would regret not going to law school.” She […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Marie Castetter
Indiana Securities Commissioner Indiana Securities Division, Secretary of State’s Office Law is a second career for Marie Castetter, who worked full time as a human resources manager while attending the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law’s evening program. In 2003, she took an internship at the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office and “fell in […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Jim Coles
Of Counsel Densborn Blachly LLP An eclectic academic career helped Jim Coles become the adviser of choice for businesses seeking help with technological and intellectual property, or IP, issues, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secrets and IP transactions and litigation. It began after he earned an engineering degree and then decided to pursue an advanced degree […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Rodney Cummings
Madison County Prosecuting Attorney State of Indiana Rodney Cummings has seen both sides of the law. He spent much of his childhood in orphanages and foster homes and in 1973 was convicted of robbery for stealing a coin collection, earning him three years of probation. Determined to turn his life around, Cummings was mentored by […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Mark Dinsmore
United States Magistrate Judge U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana Law wasn’t U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Dinsmore’s first career choice. “I was planning on a career in the military until the Soviet Union, the primary entity the Army’s heavy armored force was built to defend against, became the former Soviet Union.” Perceiving […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Greg J. Duncan
Partner Dentons After getting his undergraduate degree in accounting, Greg J. Duncan tried to land a job with one of the big accounting firms that were focused on tax work but received no offers. A friend planned to take LSAT prep for law school, and Duncan thought it sounded interesting and decided to do the […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Nicole Finelli
Partner Krieg DeVault LLP Nicole Finelli started her career not as an attorney but as an economic and financial consultant at Arthur Andersen and later KPMG. “My group was hired to value intangible assets for litigation purposes, and I found myself more interested in the legal side than the numbers,” Finelli said. “I decided to […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Kevin K. Fitzharris
Partner Barrett McNagny LLP Kevin Fitzharris’ decision to pursue a legal career was both early and emphatic. “In junior high school I liked dressing up and talking in front of people,” Fitzharris said. “With no attorneys in the family, I went for it.” Fitzharris “immediately said yes” when he was offered a job at the […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Gregory M. Gotwald
Partner Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP Greg Gotwald has seen more than his share of high-profile, high-stakes cases during his career as a specialist in insurance coverage law. Gotwald became interested in the field after he graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and went to work for […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Offer Korin
Member Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC Offer Korin began his decades-long legal career by representing individuals in civil rights cases covering everything from police misconduct to constitutional violations. After five years of this, Korin joined a small estate-planning firm. Though the new assignment interested him, he missed trial work. He was able to scratch that itch […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Andi M. Metzel
Partner and Chair, Indianapolis Litigation Practice Group Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Andi M. Metzel joined Taft in 2018, where she focuses on commercial litigation and land use. One of the things she enjoys most about her work is that it allows her to indulge a lifelong love of (and aptitude for) sales and negotiating. […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Lyndsay H. Miller
Chief Legal and Risk Officer Everwise Credit Union Lyndsay Miller has seen lots of change and disruption since she began her career at a small law firm that represented community banks and credit unions following her law school graduation in 2004. “My professional journey has evolved through experiencing the first financial crisis, the National Mortgage […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Ryan McCabe Poor
Partner Ice Miller LLP Ryan Poor says that labor and employment law, the primary focus of his practice, is “a mile wide and 2 miles deep.” On any given day he might be asked to field calls from clients with employment questions, assist with an Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection, draft an employment agreement, […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Angela Warner Sims
Judge, Madison County Circuit Court 1 State of Indiana Judge Angela Warner Sims began her legal career in the trenches, practicing at an Anderson law firm with a concentration in family and criminal law before serving for 13 years as a major felony public defender in Madison County. She was appointed to the bench in […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Cody J. Coldren
Associate Attorney Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP Cody Coldren has been interested in the real estate industry — or has at least been aware of it — as long as he can remember. “Both of my parents at some point during my childhood were residential real estate agents, and it was a practice area […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Sarah Correll
Associate Ice Miller LLP The two through lines of Sarah Correll’s career are working with Indiana communities and education. “In my job, I get to educate our clients on the bond issuance process and work with a number of communities, including a lot of rural ones,” Correll said. Not surprisingly, her primary focus is municipal […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Casey Cox
General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer STAR Financial Group Inc. Casey Cox is a master of multitasking, serving as both general counsel and chief administrative officer of Fort Wayne-headquartered STAR Financial Group. As if that weren’t enough, he also serves as corporate secretary to the board of directors of STAR Financial Bank, the company’s wholly […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Kristina Frey
Assistant Division Chief, Family Preservation Division Marion County Public Defender Agency Kristina Frey walked away from a lucrative career marketing medical devices to pursue one of the more thankless and emotionally draining legal practices — child welfare. But she’s excelled at it, becoming one of only two attorneys in the state to earn the child […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Kristine Gordon
Senior Associate Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Kristine Gordon was recruited by Taft during her second year of law school and joined the firm as a summer associate in 2017. “I came back as a new graduate in September of 2018 and never looked back,” Gordon said. Her primary focus areas are municipal law and […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: LaToya Jointer
Owner and Attorney at Law Highsaw Jointer Law LaToya Jointer recently fulfilled a long-held ambition by starting her own law firm. “In February of 2026 I took a major leap of faith to pursue that dream,” Jointer said. “I have an amazing team, and we work collaboratively to serve family law clients throughout Indiana.” Though […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Travis D. Lovett
Senior Associate Krieg DeVault LLP Mergers and acquisitions specialist Travis Lovett has always had a strong interest in business and entrepreneurship. “My mother and grandmother both owned and operated businesses for much of their lives,” Lovett said. “Growing up around them gave me an early understanding of the challenges involved in building, growing and sustaining […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Thomas Ludwiski
Partner Barrett McNagny LLP Tom Ludwiski started his career as an accountant, but he always felt destined to become an attorney. “I knew I wanted to practice business law before starting law school, and my public accounting experience confirmed that,” he said. After three and a half years at BKD (now Forvis), he joined the […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Jackson Schroeder
Partner Bose McKinney & Evans LLP Jackson Schroeder has quickly made a name for himself as a new partner in the Bose McKinney & Evans LLP environmental law and environmental litigation groups. Schroeder, who was unanimously elected partner in December, focuses on administrative, environmental and complex civil litigation. Despite being early in his career, he […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: James R. Strickland
Associate Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP James R. Strickland put in five years as a high school humanities teacher before deciding to take up a career in law. “The law was always on my radar,” Strickland said. “As a teacher, I was constantly telling my students to chase their dreams, so I figured it […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Erica Clark
Paralegal, Intellectual Property Ice Miller LLP As an intellectual property, or IP, paralegal, Erica Clark assists attorneys in the prosecution of trademark and patent property cases, assists in preparing and filing applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and works with foreign counsel in the filing of international patents and trademarks. “I arrived at […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Sandra L. Kays
Paralegal Dentons Bingham Greenbaum LLP Sandra Kays has covered a lot of ground, literally and metaphorically, during her more than 40 years of legal support work. From Huntingburg, she supports clients in the firm’s Cincinnati, Evansville, Indianapolis, Lexington, Louisville, Jasper and Portland offices. The subject matter she deals with is just as far flung. “We […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Amber May
Paralegal Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP Amber May sees her job as exacting and meticulous but not at all boring. “The work we do is much more interesting than many people realize,” May said. “We work as part of a team toward a common goal and help achieve the best possible results for our […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Angela Rinehart
Senior Litigation Paralegal Wagner Reese LLP During her roughly 30 years as a paralegal, Angela Rinehart has dedicated most of her time to complex, high-value medical malpractice litigation and enjoyed a significant level of autonomy while doing it. Defense counsel and opposing attorneys routinely engage with her directly, underscoring her credibility and reputation within the […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Kelly Sharpe
Director of Business Development Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Kelly Sharpe is a key member of Taft’s marketing and business development team, playing a pivotal role in the firm’s expansion by supporting individual attorneys, various practice groups and offices. Her efforts helped grow Taft’s Indianapolis office head count from roughly 85 attorneys in 2002 — […]
Read MoreLEADERSHIP IN LAW 2026: Jessica R. Wingate
Paralegal Church Church Hittle + Antrim With more than two decades of experience in the legal field and nearly 16 at her current employer, Church Church Hittle + Antrim, Jessica Wingate has become an indispensable member of the firm’s legal team, even though most of her contributions happen behind the scenes. And her contributions are […]
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