A northern Indiana lawyer who two years ago was suspended and jailed for forging a judge’s signature on a phony divorce order and attempting to coopt a deputy prosecutor’s identity has resigned from the practice of law rather than face a subsequent attorney discipline complaint.
Twelve judges and 11 lawyers from central Indiana have applied to succeed retiring Judge James Kirsch on the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Women who aspire to become judges need mentors and role models to help show the way. One longtime Indiana appellate judge shared the value of such encouragement that speaks to the experience of many female jurists: “She saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. That caused me to apply.”
New Southern District of Indiana Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt Pratt is focused on steps to reopen courthouses to the public as the country hopes to be quelling the COVID-19 virus and advocating in Congress for a new judgeship to help handle the court’s excessive caseload.
The Indiana Supreme Court has granted transfer to two cases, including one case presenting an issue of first impression as to whether law enforcement can establish probable cause for a search warrant based only on the smell of marijuana.
A Hamilton County magistrate judge who was removed from the bench after he was convicted of meth possession resulting from a law enforcement sting operation faces additional discipline for an alleged violation of his professional probation.
The South Bend city attorney has been selected to fill a vacancy on the St. Joseph Superior Court. Stephanie Steele will fill the seat vacated by now-Senior Judge Jane Woodward Miller, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Wednesday.
While the COVID-19 pandemic ruled out the traditional State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the Indiana General Assembly in January, Chief Justice Loretta Rush’s address for 2021 released Wednesday takes the form of a video featuring judges and court officers discussing how the judiciary “adapted and innovated.”
Four magistrates and one lawyer have been named as finalists to fill an upcoming vacancy on the St. Joseph Superior Court. The finalists were announced by a judicial selection panel that was reduced to five members after two were disqualified.
The Indiana Senate approved a bill reducing local attorney input into who serves on the judicial nominating commissions for Lake and St. Joseph counties Monday despite objections from Democratic senators, one of whom insinuated the changes were triggered by anonymous complaints from candidates who had lost out on judge appointments.
The first Hispanic judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has officially taken his seat on the bench.
The Supreme Court of the United States sided Monday with Google in an $8 billion copyright dispute with Oracle over the internet company’s creation of the Android operating system used on most smartphones worldwide.
Legislation that would eliminate attorney input and increase the role of the governor and county officials in appointing commission members who nominate candidates for the trial court benches in Lake and St. Joseph counties continues to advance in the Indiana General Assembly despite vocal opposition from lawyers, judges and bar associations.
House Bill 1068 would allow for the creation of local justice reinvestment advisory councils modeled after the statewide JRAC. The local councils would be tasked with reviewing criminal justice practices on a county or regional level, collecting data and reporting back to JRAC, which would use the data to make policy decisions.
Following a “drastic” move by the Indiana Supreme Court suspending in-person jury trials from mid-December to March 1, courts across Indiana are attempting to resume the hallmark proceedings of the American judicial system. But in Marion County, finding enough jurors to hold those proceedings has proven difficult.
The Indiana Senate has passed legislation that would give lawmakers the power to convene at any time during a statewide public emergency and more oversight over federal stimulus dollars.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced his intent to nominate a “trailblazing slate” of judicial nominees, a field that includes Black, Muslim American and Asian American Pacific Islander candidates for federal courts and for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Warsaw solo practitioner Karin McGrath has been appointed as Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge, Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office announced today. She will succeed Judge David Cates who died in December.
A bill that would change how superior court judges are nominated in Lake and St. Joseph counties was uniformly opposed by lawyers and judges from those counties in a Senate hearing Wednesday but narrowly advanced on a 5-4 vote.
The Supreme Court of the United States seemed likely Tuesday to allow tribal police officers to stop and search non-Indians on tribal lands over concerns that drunk drivers or even violent criminals might otherwise elude authorities.