After careers as a prosecutor and a judge, Court of Appeals Judge Michael Barnes plans to step down, as three finalists are in the running to succeed him. The Indiana Department of Correction is fighting in court and in the Statehouse to keep information about lethal injection drugs secret. Facing an uncertain future, Valparaiso University Law School recently graduated its smallest class in years.
The Indiana Court of Appeals is grappling with the question of how technology impacts constitutional rights. As CHINS and TPR filings continue to rise, public defenders struggle to comply with caseload requirements. A recent American Bar Association ethics opinion highlights attorneys' confusion over their duty of confidentiality in online forums.
Seeing few alternatives in fighting the ongoing opioid epidemic, dozens of Indiana towns, cities and counties have sued drugmakers and distributors. Larry Landis, the longtime advocate for public defenders in Indiana, plans to retire in July. Changes inside and outside of the Indiana Tax Court have led to a marked decrease in case filings.
A proposal to require attorneys to make their cellphone numbers public has many lawyers speaking out. A push for pro bono produced an upturn in attorneys volunteering their time and money in state and federal court. Intellectual property law clinics at IU Maurer and Notre Dame law schools are helping inventors protect their ideas and launch dreams.
The new Marion County Criminal Justice Center's design will focus on efficiency and customer service. In the coming special session of the Indiana General Assembly, the issue of regulating self-driving cars won't be among the issues on the table. The push for an alternative 65/70 North Split design is an example of expressways losing favor.
The Center for Victim and Human Rights opened 10 years ago this month, and the scope of their work only continues to grow. Schools across Indiana have recorded a spike in threats of violence, as law enforcement cracks down on juveniles' threats. Officials warn flood victims in the 35 counties currently under a state of emergency to be wary of scammers.
A tiny southern Indiana settlement had a big influence celebrated by federal courts marking Black History Month. The legislature is not waiting on Gov. Eric Holcomb's DCS report, instead introducing more than a dozen agency-related bills this session. A McKinney professor traveled to Cambodia recently to train judges on a new set of commercial laws.
Deep divisions over hate crimes legislation led Senate committee leaders to pull the bill from a vote last week. Civil forfeiture reform is advancing in the legislature, but not without continuing concerns over due process. Career prospects for paralegals are twice as good as the average projected growth rate across all professions over the next decade, federal labor statistics say.
Indiana's system for processing child support payments relies on 1980s technology so antiquated that those rely on it fear it may collapse. Lake County lawmakers and East Chicago residents are fighting to keep cleanup a priority at a lead- and arsenic-contaminated EPA Superfund site. Chief Justice Loretta Rush acknowledged challenges posed by the opioid epidemic but said in her State of the Judiciary address that state courts are looking toward a hope-filled future.