Summary
A History of the Indianapolis Legal Profession

Unlike more capital cities, Indianapolis was created not by the natural settlement of pioneers, but by law. The state legislature decreed it and Jefferson County Judge Jeremiah Sullivan named it, combining the new state's title, "Indiana," and the Greek word "polis," meaning city, to "indicate to all the world the locality of the town."

On January 6, 1821, both the name and the location became official, and the planned city, to be built nearly from scratch, became the seat of government in the center of a fledgling state.

From the appointment of its first justice of the peace in 1821 and the construction of a two-story brick courthouse completed in 1825 at a cost of $8,000, lawyers and the law played an important part in the development of Indianapolis as a world class city.

In this text, the authors trace that contribution fro the early years of log cabin justice to the sophistication of the bar in the dawn of the 21st Century. They share tales of war and politics, of discrimination and unity, of growth and expansion as the Circle City prospered.

The members of the Indianapolis Bar Association had enormous impact on the city of Indianapolis, working in the courts, conference rooms, councils and legislature and through philanthropic organizations to help build a vibrant, world class metropolis. This book highlights the people and events that shaped the city through two centuries. Here are the stories that illuminate and commemorate the Indianapolis legal community - the trials, the laws, the people whose strengths and integrity - contributed so much to the city.

Author Bio

Sandra B. Cline, writer and journalist,  is the author of one previous historical reference, The Great Theatre, and co-editor of another, Zionsville: The First One Hundred Years. The former editor and publisher of the Zionsville Times Sentinel, she was the first woman to serve as president of the Hoosier State Press Association. She has been honored by the National Newspaper Association, Inland Press Association, Hoosier State Press Association and Women in Communications. Cline's work appears in a variety of local and regional publications, and she serves as contributing editor of the Indiana Publisher. She holds both master's and bachelor's degrees from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, and resides in Carmel with her husband, attorney/arbitrator Stephen C. Cline.

Alicia Dean Carlson is an award-winning, Indianapolis -based writer and a former newspaper reporter for the Elkhart Truth and the Indianapolis Business Journal. Her articles have appeared in the Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis Monthly, Indianapolis Woman and the alumni magazine of the IU School of Law-Indianapolis. Carlson edits and annual publication, NEXT: Life After High School in Indiana, GRAD, a magazine for college juniors and seniors, and The Ribbon, quarterly newsletter of the breast cancer support group Y-ME of Central Indiana. A graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington, Carlson and her husband, Jim, are raising two daughters in the city's historic Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. 

Ordering