Hammerle on… “Downton Abbey: A New Era” and “Thor: Love and Thunder”
Indianapolis criminal defense attorney Robert Hammerle gives us his take on “Downton Abbey: A New Era” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Opinion
Articles
IndyBar: September is IndyBar Member Appreciation Month!
While it’s our goal year-round to make you, IndyBar members, more profitable and productive in your practice, we’re taking extra care during the month of September to show you how much we appreciate you!
IndyBar: WIP It Good: What Can Work in Progress Tell You About the Future of Your Law Firm?
“Work in Progress” (often abbreviated to WIP) is a representation of work outstanding for law firm clients. While most lawyers just let it ride and take it for granted that the work just keeps coming in and keeps getting done — WIP has some predictive powers that law firms are largely ignoring.
IndyBar: Help Us Honor Excellence: Nominations Now Open for IndyBar Recognition Awards
The Indianapolis legal community is fortunate to be home to many talented, dedicated professionals, and we need your help in identifying our colleagues who went above and beyond this past year!
Smith: Written advocacy in the electronic age: Do’s and don’ts
Embracing the recent advances in technology, every court in Indiana is now part of the Indiana Electronic Filing System. This means almost every judge in this state — from small claims to the Supreme Court — now reads some part of your written work product on an iPad, laptop, smartphone or computer screen. Many attorneys, however, still have not changed their writing styles and practices to reflect this, and they are missing significant advocacy opportunities as a result.
Dillman: Economic instability and the need to plan for long-term care
The current economic crisis has rattled the confidence of all of us, including my clients. If you are in a practice that focuses on pre-planning, then I am sure you are seeing a similar reaction. Clients who are typically proactive are now pulling back on the reins and taking care of immediate needs — doing just enough to address these immediate needs — rather than preparing for the near future.
Albaugh: Legal technology from the client’s perspective: Good and bad
Recently during a lunch with a business owner and client, I asked about legal technology that she likes and that makes her life easier. Her answer — and the answers received after asking others — was enlightening.
IndyBar: The Most Valuable Voir Dire? What you need to hear vs. What you want to hear
The information learned during voir dire will, of course, inform the parties’ actions regarding peremptory and causal challenges. In addition, it provides some insight about individual jurors ultimately seated on the jury, the overall composition of the jury and individuals who have a higher probability of serving as the foreperson.
Brinkerhoff: Poetic advice: Be kind while there is still time
One of my favorite podcasts, “Men in Blazers,” is led in part by a beautiful soul named Roger Bennett, whose recall of works of literature (among his other gifts) is stunning even to this trivia nerd. When discussion on the podcast turns from soccer to things way more important than soccer, Bennett often recites the poignant closing lines of Philip Larkin’s “The Mower” from “Collected Poems,” which inspired me in writing this column and which advice I hope we can all remember: “… we should be careful/Of each other, we should be kind/While there is still time.”
IndyBar: President’s Message: Give Us More Summer!
Gone are the summers that lasted from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And to those naysayers who say we can’t get the 180 days of required schooling in without a shorter summer, I say, “baloney!”
Makris: The family law attorney’s guide to the Community Justice Center
With the opening of the new Marion County Community Justice Center come many exciting upgrades to the courtroom experience. While the move from the City-County Building marks the nostalgic end of an era, the CJC offers modern and innovative features that will serve as valuable assets to the family law trial attorney.
Hammerle on… “Father of the Bride” and “The Black Phone”
Indianapolis criminal defense attorney Robert Hammerle gives us his take on “Father of the Bride” and “The Black Phone.”
Van Winkle: Confidentiality: Elegance of the Uniform Mediation Act
There was universal consensus when mediation was introduced in the early 1990s that mediations should be “confidential.” The ADR rules adopted in Indiana and most other states, however, failed to set forth clear standards and guidelines for courts and mediation participants faced with issues of confidentiality of mediation communications.
Trimble: The pros and cons of remote work for lawyers after COVID
At the end of this month, I will be speaking on the topic of “A Virtual Quagmire: Weighing the Risks and Benefits of Remote Work in a Post-COVID World” at the annual meeting of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel. My research and investigation into that topic prompted me to share some of what I have learned in this column.
Soshnick: The UPMAA: The future for Indiana postmarital agreements?
The terms “reconciliation agreement,” “postnuptial agreement,” “postmarital agreement,” “separation agreement,” “marital agreement” and “settlement agreement” have been the subject of considerable Indiana appellate court commentary without legislative guidance.
IndyBar: Emancipation and IV-D
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office can be very helpful to parents (both custodial and noncustodial) that have children emancipating.
IndyBar: Blow up the MPEP Sections Discussing Drawings
The rules that govern patent drawings deserve an overhaul.
Van der Cruysse: Mental health issues but no insurance: JLAP’s answer
Lawyers and judges suffer from mental health and substance abuse issues at rates well above the U.S. population average, according to a widely published national study the American Bar Association conducted in partnership with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in 2016.
IndyBar: Meet Us in Vegas!
It’s time to get away to Las Vegas! Head west to the beautiful Caesars Palace from Nov. 3-6 for six hours of high-quality CLE and afternoons/evenings free to enjoy all that Las Vegas has to offer.
IndyBar: Share and Share Alike: How Modern Document Storage Systems Increase Law Firm Security
Email is good for email, but when law firms start to try to expand the uses of email into broader technology functions — that’s where they run into trouble.