Knock out your holiday shopping while doing some good at our week-long virtual auction! IndyBar's Giving is your opportunity to help the fundraising efforts of the IBF and to support local businesses as we auction off items purchased and donated by members of the legal community. Items will include loaded gift baskets, hot holiday toys, gift cards and trips to socially distant locations.

The IndyBar Professionalism Committee is currently soliciting nominations for the 2020 IndyBar Professionalism Award (attorney) and IndyBar Silver Gavel Award (judge). We'll also present the Unsung Hero Award, given to a lawyer who goes above and beyond the call of duty and exhibits the highest level of commitment to others without the expectation of praise or recognition. Nominations are due by noon on Monday, September 21.

Before you check out for the holiday weekend, spend some time with us! See the IndyBar calendar and catch up on news here.

The judges of the Marion County Courts have recently given notice of proposed amendments to their local court rule concerning LR49-CR2.2-100 Random Assignment of Criminal Cases & LR49-CR2.3-101 Case Consolidation. 

The world has changed and the world of public education has been forced to change along with it. From using hybrid models of both in-school and virtual instruction, alternative day schedules, to school districts that have foregone offering any in-person instruction at all, the changes to public education are varied. While these changes affect most of us with children of school age, they deeply and significantly affect parents of children who have special needs in terms of education or health.

The nomination period has begun for the 2021 Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Bar Association, and Kelley Johnson of the Law Office of Kelley J. Johnson LLP  has been appointed to chair the effort. Johnson, who is a past president of the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, will lead a committee of members in selecting a slate of officers for the coming year.

As we all attempt to cope with the daily challenges and changes to our personal and professional lives that accompany the COVID-19 pandemic, I am here to ask you as a lawyer and member of the Indianapolis Bar Association to enter your bat cave, put on your bat suit, crank up your bat mobile and be a real life superhero! As the Dark Knight, I am not calling on you to stop the manic-depressive Joker (Heath Ledger did it the best; rest in peace) from blowing up a hospital or to climb without a rope out of Bain’s Pit. No, I am asking you to answer the loud calls for mentorship from young lawyers and law students that are truly fearful of what the future may hold for their careers.

Last week, the Indianapolis Bar Association notified its members that civil jury trials in the Marion Superior Court will begin the week of September 14, 2020.  Due to questions arising from the first notification, the court offers this additional clarification.

We've got programming you won't want to miss this week! Pencil us into your calendar and catch up on IndyBar news and events here.

When we learned that Jim passed away earlier this month, the outpouring of support and remembrances from past IndyBar and Indianapolis Bar Foundation presidents was immense. Nearly every IndyBar leader with whom I’ve interacted in my 15-year career shared a memory of how Jim touched the profession, and often their individual practices, in a tangibly positive way.