As an attorney, Amy Dudas represents individuals in estate planning, probate and family law matters. She also handles business formation and transactional work and does some not-for-profit formation and consulting. She’s served in high-level leadership roles for the Indiana State Bar Association the past three years, and this year, she’s serving as president. She’s also been on the Indiana Board of Law Examiners since 2018 and has served as secretary since 2022. She and her husband, Andy, founded DIVA (Dudas Inspiration Venue for the Arts) in 2017 in Richmond.
Job swap: “I’d love to be a stage manager or director
on Broadway.”
Favorite sports team: “USA Gymnastics!”
Sabbatical topic: “I’d love to be a backup singer/dancer for Lady Gaga.”
As a litigator at Dentons, Trisha Dudlo primarily focuses on family disputes, an area in which her understanding of mental health, trauma and domestic violence serves her clients well. She also serves as director of the Southwestern Indiana Pro Bono Protective Order Project and works with the not-for-profit Albion Fellows Bacon Center to help domestic- and sexual-abuse survivors obtain legal advice. As managing partner at the law firm’s Evansville office, she also strives to create a team-focused workplace to help individuals and the office meet their goals.
Toughest challenge: “As a woman, as a person of color and as the first lawyer in my family, it was hard to find acceptance and belonging throughout my life.”
Indiana change: “I would seek to provide education and awareness on how the effects of abuse resonate with our children and in our society. I would also seek for the laws to reflect how our systems can often perpetuate the abuse.”
Ken Falk has been legal director of the ACLU of Indiana since 1996. He and the organization’s other attorneys handle cases involving people whose constitutional rights have been denied or threatened. Recently, the ACLU has focused its litigation on reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, rights for people who are incarcerated, disability rights and free speech. Falk has litigated and argued numerous cases in Indiana and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Before joining the ACLU, he was employed by Legal Services Organization of Indiana, now Indiana Legal Services, from 1977 to 1996, eventually serving as the organization’s litigation director. Falk also serves as an adjunct professor of law at the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis.
Accessibility expert Gregory S. Fehribach founded The Fehribach Group in 1995. The company promotes guidelines and standards for people with disabilities. In 2013, the Ball State University alum launched the Gregory S. Fehribach Center—a partnership between Eskenazi Health and Ball State. The center’s mission to increase economic independence and equality for people with disabilities has led to more than 250 paid internships for college students. Affiliated with Indianapolis law firm Tuohy Bailey & Moore LLP, Fehribach has worked as an accessibility consultant for sports venues such as Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum arena.
Job swap: “I would like to captain a magnificent sailing vessel around the world.”
Worry: “I worry about the young people who aren’t civically, organizationally and community involved because our country was built upon the concept of ‘next person up,’ and I want there to be a bench for our communities to rely on.”
Rebecca Geyer is founder of Rebecca W. Geyer & Associates PC, a full-service estate planning and elder law firm that represents clients throughout central Indiana. She also serves as president of the Indianapolis Bar Association and is the Indiana state chair for the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and president of the Congregation Beth-El Zedeck Foundation.
Job swap: “If I could pick any other job, I would be an interior designer. I love looking at different textiles, color and furnishing options and bringing them together to make a beautiful space.”
Walk-up song: “Lose Yourself,” by Eminem
As managing partner of Barnes & Thornburg from 2014 to 2022, Robert Grand was responsible for 700 lawyers and 600 staff at 20 offices in 16 states, as well as the firm’s strategic initiatives. He has four continuous decades of government relations practice, representing public and private clients before state and federal agencies and Congress. Most of his time over the past few years has been spent expanding the firm, with offices in Dallas; San Diego; Raleigh, North Carolina; New York; and Boston. For over 25 years, he has chaired the Little Red Door Cancer Agency golf outing.
On leadership: “Remember that every story has two sides. Listen to both before making a decision.”
Advice for a young person: “Work hard and efficiently. Ask questions only after you have made every effort to find the answer on your own. Listen carefully and always seek feedback. Take constructive criticism and learn.”
John Hammond is a partner in Taft’s Public Affairs Strategies Group and provides public affairs services for clients on a local, state and federal level. As a member of former Indiana Gov. Robert Orr’s staff, Hammond helped shape policies on state and local taxes, environmental regulatory issues, K-12 and higher education, tort reform, transportation, insurance, and economic development. He is serving his third four-year term as Indiana’s representative on the Republican National Committee and is a member of the National Finance Committee of the Republican Governors Association. He is a founding board member of Herron High School.
First job: Delivering the Indianapolis News. “Four years of freezing cold winters, windswept falls and springs, and blistering hot and humid summers taught me that maybe college and the attendant prospects for ‘inside work’ might be a better path.”
Something surprising: “While in high school, I used to ride a unicycle all over Southport, dribbling a basketball, ostensibly to improve my ball-handling skills. I no longer play basketball, but I still have the unicycle.”
Bob Hicks has served as Taft’s chair and managing partner since Jan. 1, 2017, and also serves as outside counsel for several substantial and successful businesses and private equity funds. From 1996 to 2001, he took a five-year hiatus from his private law practice to do more than $25 billion worth of Wall Street transactional work and serve as a top executive and head of corporate development for the CIT Group. He began his career with Arthur Andersen as a tax accountant and passed the CPA examination while a senior at Butler University.
Job swap: “I would be a custom designer and builder of homes. I love architecture and building things because it gives me a sense of true accomplishment.”
Admires most: “‘Everyday heroes.’ Quiet, dedicated, loyal people—often of limited resources—who provide for their families and others through hard work and dedication, grinding through life’s obstacles as they arise.”
Lacy Johnson is a partner in Taft’s Public Affairs Strategies Group and partner in charge of the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. President Joe Biden appointed him in March to serve on the President’s Export Council, which serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade. Previously, Johnson served on the Biden-Harris transition team and was a member of Vice President Kamala Harris’ Midwest finance team. In 2021, Biden appointed Johnson as an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee. His legal practice focuses on public affairs and government.
First job: “My first job was a paperboy where I learned commitment and responsibility.”
Job swap: secretary of the Navy
Favorite gadget: “Smartphone—essentially the world at
your fingers.”
Favorite team: Indiana Pacers
Jon Laramore is executive director of Indiana’s only statewide provider of civil legal aid to low-income Hoosiers, Indiana Legal Services. The not-for-profit has eight offices, more than 200 employees and an $18 million budget. It offers legal help on issues that include evictions, family problems, public benefits, consumer debt, elder law and workers’ rights. Laramore was a legal aid lawyer from 1984-1989 and has been again since 2015. In between, he worked in the Massachusetts and Indiana attorney general’s offices (1989-2001), was legal counsel to Govs. Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan (2002-2005) and was a partner at Baker & Daniels (2005-2015), which is now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
Job swap: “Obituary writer for The New York Times.”
Something surprising: “I sing bass in a church choir.”
Leadership lessons: “Leading is all about people. The most difficult, most rewarding and most important element of leadership is building the best possible team to help develop and implement a shared vision.”
