Type Legal Society Location United States | Headquarters Indianapolis, IN | |
Membership 11,500 in 2012 (2,000 out of state) | ||
The Indiana State Bar Association (ISBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Indiana. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA membership is not required of lawyers licensed to practice in Indiana, and ISBA membership is totally voluntary. The ISBA is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It includes among its members lawyers, judges, paralegals, law librarians, law students, and court administrators. About 85% of the practicing lawyers in the state are members.
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History
The ISBA began on 23 June 1896 in the hall of the Indiana House of Representatives with more than 100 lawyers present. Benjamin Harrison served as the Association's first president and remains the only two-term president in its history. Three years earlier he had concluded his service as the nation's 23rd president and returned to his law practice in Indiana.
Organization and activities
The ISBA is the largest legal organization in the state. With approximately 12,000 members, the ISBA continues to serve and advocate on behalf of its members, their clients, and the public as the independent voice of the legal profession. ISBA does not handle matters such as law licensing or complaints against lawyers; these are within the purview of the Indiana Court System.
Among the ISBA's publications are the Res Gestae and various newsletters by its sections. Res Gestae began in 1956 when ISBA President Tom Scanlon created a publications committee to upgrade The Bulletin, a mimeographed newsletter, which, in fact, was a legal-size sheet of paper that was nothing more than a calendar. Volunteer lawyer-editors and a small bar staff went to work, and the newly named Res Gestae was published, for the first time, in November of that year.