You find yourself having been pulled over by a police officer after you have had a couple of glasses of wine or beers with dinner. After asking you for your license and registration, the officer asks you, “how much have you had to drink this evening?” Do you answer the question honestly and say that you have had two glasses of wine? Do you lie and say that you have not had anything to drink, or do you say you've had just one glass of wine? Do you refuse to answer the question altogether? If you find yourself in that situation, it is almost certain that the officer already believes you have been drinking. Police usually don’t ask how much a driver has had to drink during a routine stop for speeding in the middle of the day without reason to suspect alcohol consumption. Regardless of your answer, the officer will likely tell you to step out of the car.

As 2020 ticks to a close, IndyBar sections and divisions are in the process of evaluating their committee rosters and determining vacancies for 2021. Now is the perfect time to indicate your interest in serving on a committee. While space is limited, every effort will be made to involve anyone expressing interest in some capacity.

The Marion County Judicial Selection Committee is beginning the process of selecting names to send to Governor Holcomb to fill a Republican vacancy on the Marion Superior Court. The vacancy will occur when Judge Lisa Borges retires on December 31, 2020.

Indiana trial courts can now send text and email reminders, cancellations, and rescheduling notices to jurors. The Supreme Court’s Office of Court Technology added these enhancements to its Jury Management System, used by courts in 81 counties. 

With the pandemic and the courts shutting down for a while, we have all gotten a break from using our trial skills. As with most things, trial skills fall into the “use ‘em or lose ‘em” category, and now that court is resuming, it’s the perfect time to review, refresh and ask questions.

As lawyers, many of our relationships are governed by our rules of professional conduct. For the most part, these rules place burdens, limits and duties on us. The judge-lawyer relationship, however, is governed by interlocking rules from both sides. In our practices, lawyers are limited in what we can say to a judge, as well as when and how we say it. We may really want to let the judge know what we think is going on in a case, or we may really want to know what the judge is thinking on an issue, but often can’t just say or ask what we want.

The proposed amendments affect LR49-TR79-223 Initial Request for Change of Judge, LR-TR-79-224 Appointment by Clerk, LR49-TR79-225 Acceptance, and LR49-TR3-200 Random Filing of Civil Cases. 

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 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.

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.