Kathleen DeLaney, JD'95
"[The School of Law] is like a small community. You know the professors, they know you by name. To this day, when I'm stuck on where to go with a problem, I call some of my former professors and bounce ideas around," she said. "They're generous with their time, even though it's been a long time since I was a student."
Professors helped DeLaney through service as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in London; as a clerk for the Hon. David F. Hamilton, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Indiana; and as an associate attorney at Ice Miller in Indianapolis.
Now DeLaney sits on the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the U.S. District Court for Southern District of Indiana and the Character and Fitness Committee of the State Board of Law Examiners. She completed multiple terms as a barrister in the Sagamore American Inn of Court and belongs to the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Section of the Indianapolis Bar Association.
She's also a managing partner of DeLaney & DeLaney, a firm she opened with her mother Ann, a 1977 graduate of the School. Four of the five attorneys in the practice are Bloomington graduates. "My dad graduated from Harvard, so he's the odd man out!" she jokes.
Rich with talented Bloomington alumni, DeLaney & DeLaney gives an unrestricted, matched gift to the annual fund each year through a matching program Kathleen established and recently enhanced.
"I support the Law School because it's a great institution, but also because every year the state is cutting funding for public law schools. I don't want students who are graduating more recently than I did to suffer as consequence," she said.