In order to create a common culture, law firms are emphasizing collaboration to keep attorneys and attract clients and new talent. An Indianapolis lawyer has been charged for stealing more than $85,000 from two special-needs trusts. Investigators and attorneys believe that may just be the tip of the iceberg. Despite a boost from the Trump administration, coal faces rocky prospects.

As the Class of 2020 begins its legal studies and the Class of 2018 prepares for the bar exam and life as a lawyer, many will probably be thinking about their financial security, debt and loan obligations. More than 85 percent of law students borrow, running up a tab that can flow to astronomical amounts.

The Indiana State Bar Association's choice for executive director brings experience leading a national member-based nonprofit in a field that has been disrupted by technology and consolidation.  

At 50, the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act just isn't its old self. Age discrimination cases are becoming harder to prove. 

An Allen County Bar Association project is collecting oral histories from members of the legal community. An Indianapolis firm's one-principal business model is unique and allows its attorneys a better work-life balance. Plaintiffs plan to appeal their loss in a bid to restrict the use of driver's license info from crash reports.

Insurance defense attorney Rob Doyle will be spending less time in the office and more time on the football field now that he's head coach of the team at Bishop Chatard High School. The Department of Justice directive on civil forfeiture announced July 19 comes at a time when Indiana is considering revamping its civil forfeiture law. Family law attorneys are seeing more contentious divorce cases and are trying to be the calm in the dissolution storm.

Black lawyers who rose through the ranks of larger law firms say they see vast changes in how life in a big firm is for newer attorneys as compared to when they were starting their careers. Law students and inmates were learning from each other through IU McKinney's Inside-Out course, until the Indianapolis re-entry facility where the classes were held was abruptly shut down. A TV station is challenging a court-imposed ban on airing audio it obtained from the court of a sentencing hearing, hoping the case makes precedent.

Crowdfunding websites such as gofundme.com and others are rife with fundraising campaigns for various legal matters, from neighbors fighting to stop approval of a “factory” hog farm in northern Indiana to a federal case in which the NAACP and others seek to expand early voting in Marion County. For lawyers, the key to making rain is relationships. A pilot project from Indiana Legal Services Inc. offers on-the-spot help to small claims defendants.

Four lawyers and a businessman walk into a bar…and begin distilling, bottling and selling their own artisan liquor. The $25 million settlement in the case involving a wrongly prosecuted case is the larest payment of its kind in state history. Attorneys are encouraged to practice "active relaxtion" to better their mental health.

The final stop for a last will and testament in the e-filing era depends on where in Indiana an estate is opened and what the local probate court demands, at least for now. The Indiana Court of Appeals is deciding whether agency immunity covers a lawyer's failure to file a lawsuit. The closing of Indiana Tech Law School leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

The local chapter of Chiefs in Intellectual Property (ChIPS), launched by three central Indiana women IP attorneys, is the first in the Midwest and will bring in women from a different technology sector than what is present on the East and West coasts. Law firms and attorney are seeing the value in increasing business development efforts to attract new clients. The advent of e-filing has led couriers to alter the services they offer since they no longer need to rush to the courthouse each day.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s legal team races to meet challenges happening at the track and revs up new events. Failing the bar hurts, but it doesn’t spell doom for a future legal career. Mediators are seeing a rise in attorneys arriving to meetings unprepared.