Indiana State Bar Association

She also developed an immersion through the arts program to help get youths struggling with delinquency connected with mentors in the local community.

DeBeer has served on the Indiana Judges Association Board of Managers and is currently on the Appellate Practice Section Council of the Indiana State Bar Association.

Also, she chairs the Criminal Case Flow Management Project, with exam, which examines and identifies strategies that can improve criminal case proceed- processing.

A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, DeBeer graduated with honors from Western Michigan University and earned her JD degree from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1993.

Before his judicial appointment, McAdam was deputy director and chief legal counsel for the Indiana Office of Management and Budget.

Also, he was chair of the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeal Board and the Indiana Board for Depositories, as well as a trustee of the Indiana Public Retirement System and the Next Level Indiana Trust Fund.

McAdam is a past chair of the Indiana State Bar Association's tax section and serves on several committees established by the Indiana Supreme Court, including the Innovation Committee and the Records Access and Management Committee.

Born in California and eventually settling with his family in Terre Haute, McAdam started at Purdue University before transferring and earning a bachelor's degree at Indiana University.

[laughs]

In that same month, Silk, in the Indiana Bar Association magazine, there was a big article about how VA claims were so complex, um, and how it was hard for veterans to understand, and how it was even hard for attorneys to understand.

And in fact, my case specifically, the way it went down, there's only one of one.

Nobody's been prosecuted-

Welcome to the 2026 Indiana Secretary of State candidate debate, presented by the Indiana Debate Commission.

Tonight's debate is made possible in part through the generous support of the Indiana Broadcasters Association, the Indiana State Bar Association, and the League of Women Voters of Indiana, and is being produced by WFYI Public Media from its Indianapolis studios.

Founded in 2007, the Indiana Debate Commission is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing Hoosier voters with fair, issue-focused debates for statewide office.

The commission is the longest serving independent debate commission of its kind in the nation.

Candidates, on behalf of the Indiana Debate Commission, thank you for participating in tonight's debate.

The commission is a non-profit organization that depends on volunteers and media outlets across the state to make events like these possible.

The commission also wants to thank our sponsors, the Indiana Broadcasters Association, the Indiana State Bar Association, and the League of Women Voters of Indiana.

Finally, thanks to all of you in our audience of voters for submitting questions and topic ideas and for watching or listening.

Kara Kenney with Indiana's I-Team explains a solution in the works that hopes to place lawyers where they're needed the most.

The Indiana State Bar Association is hosting an in-person training for attorneys.

But this training, it's a first of its kind.

John Donovan is a lawyer with his own practice in Mishawaka.

Does it vary that much?

John is one of 15 participants from all over the state taking part in the Rural Practice Academy.

The Indiana State Bar Association launched the program earlier this year.

The goal is to have the skills and the confidence and the tools to launch or grow and sustain a rural firm in Indiana.