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By Scott Chinn, 2012 IndyBar President

There is an interwoven fabric of reasons why I love lawyers. We serve people and the community (even when we don’t get paid). We are among the best problem solvers in situations big and small. And we can be objective analyzers of duty, responsibility and social norms and values even when we are in our roles as advocates.

With those thoughts in mind, I have been considering for many months the work of lawyers in assisting other lawyers. For example, as I’ve written about in this column before, a task force of the bar headed by Kathleen Hart and Rebecca Geyer has been working on outreach to lawyers who may benefit from mentoring, networking and skills training in the brave new economic world for legal services. But beyond that, some lawyers around the country have become involved in organized efforts to assist lawyers, their families, law students and other members of the legal system in times of need. Continue reading →

Members of the legal community gathered to pay tribute to the value of professionalism in the practice at the IndyBar’s Professionalism Luncheon, held Thursday, October 11 at the Columbia Club. Sponsored by the IndyBar Professionalism Committee, the luncheon honored the 2012 Professionalism Award winners—Hon. Anthony Metz III, recipient of the Silver Gavel Award, and Sally Zweig, recipient of the Professionalism Award—as well as special guest speaker Hon. Sarah Evans Barker of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Honorees Judge Tony Metz, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, and Sally Zweig of Katz & Korin PC smile with IndyBar President Scott Chinn, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

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By Scott Chinn, 2012 IndyBar President

A 2010 film called “The Special Relationship” depicts British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s important relationship with President Bill Clinton. The film traces the interactions between the leaders in the 1990s both in the contexts of the prosperity and the political tumult of those times. Originally, the movie’s screenplay was to deal with Blair’s relationship with both President Clinton and President George W. Bush. In the end, the director found the Blair-Clinton relationship too interesting not to receive the exclusive focus of the film and left the Bush story on the cutting room floor.

A special relationship exists between the Indianapolis Bar Foundation and the Indianapolis Bar Association. It is easy to think of the IBF as the “fund raising arm” of the IndyBar. And that isn’t wrong. Many metropolitan bar associations around the county have the support of separate bar foundations dedicated to raising money for bar programs. Indeed, so integrated are the layers of bar association management, operations and financing that the semi-annual and annual meetings of the National Association of Bar Executives, National Conference of Bar Presidents, and National Association of Bar Foundations are held jointly.

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The Indianapolis Bar Association’s Nominating Committee has announced the selection of John C. Trimble of Lewis Wagner LLP as the 2015 President of the Indianapolis Bar Association. Currently an At Large Director on the board, Trimble will serve as the association’s First Vice President on the 2013 Board of Directors. Trimble was unopposed for the nomination. Continue reading →