Our Attorneys
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Kathleen A. DeLaney
Kathleen DeLaney is the managing partner of the firm. She has been selected by her peers for the Best Lawyers in America® for 2007 and 2008. She received the Indianapolis Business Journal’s “Forty under 40” recognition in 2006. Kathleen has been recognized as an Indiana Superlawyer in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and a Top 25 Female Superlawyer in 2007 and 2008. Lexis-Nexis Martindale-Hubbell has awarded Kathleen the AV Peer Review Rating for ethical standards and legal ability.
Prior to forming the firm of DeLaney & DeLaney, Kathleen spent several years as an associate attorney with Ice Miller, one of the city’s largest law firms. She gained experience in all aspects of employment litigation, general litigation, and product liability litigation. Kathleen handled litigation avoidance, pleadings, discovery, motions practice, and trial practice. Her work included primary authorship of several successful dispositive motions.
Kathleen was a law clerk for the Hon. David F. Hamilton, a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Indiana. As a law clerk to Judge Hamilton, Kathleen helped draft dozens of legal opinions in a wide variety of litigated matters. She clerked for Judge Hamilton after returning from a stint as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in London.
Kathleen’s courtroom experience includes jury trials, bench trials, and appellate arguments. She has represented some of America’s largest corporations as well as individual plaintiffs. Within weeks of launching the firm, Kathleen presented a First Amendment argument before the Court of Appeals of Indiana. She has presented oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Judicial Circuit on multiple occasions. In the past several years, she has handled several jury trials in both the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and the Indiana state trial courts.
Kathleen serves on the Board of Directors for Dress for Success Indianapolis, a not-for-profit organization that provides tools for workforce success for low income women. Kathleen serves the legal community on the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the United States District Court for Southern District of Indiana and the Supreme Court of Indiana’s Character and Fitness Committee of the State Board of Law Examiners. For several years, she served by invitation as a Barrister in the Sagamore American Inn of Court. Currently, Kathleen is the Vice Chair of the Executive Council of the Labor and Employment Section of the Indianapolis Bar Association.
Kathleen is a member of the FINRA Dispute Resolution Board of Arbitrators and is serving as a public arbitrator in securities industry disputes, both employment related disputes and investment related disputes.
Kathleen has published articles and presented on several litigation topics. Most recently, she participated in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Technical Assistance Program Seminar in September 2007. While in law school, Kathleen authored “Response to Nannygate: Untangling U.S. Immigration Law”. It was published in the Indiana Law Journal (Winter 1994). Kathleen has addressed supervisory and non-supervisory personnel from government and private sector employers on subjects related to appropriate workplace conduct. These seminars serve the dual purposes of preventing sexual harassment and other forms of harassment in the workplace and minimizing litigation risks associated with such conduct.
Kathleen graduated summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, and
Order of the Barristers from the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington
(1995). She graduated cum laude from Georgetown University’s
School of Foreign Service in 1990. She is married and lives in Indianapolis
with her husband, Jim Strenski, also an attorney, and their three children.
Ann M. DeLaney
Ann DeLaney is a founding partner of DeLaney & DeLaney. Ann is well-known throughout Indiana for her advocacy on behalf of her clients as well as for people and causes. Ann has extensive litigation experience over the course of her 25-year legal career. She has handled all aspects of litigation, including discovery, alternative dispute resolution, and trial. Before entering private practice, Ann served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Marion County, Indiana. Ann also served as a Commissioner in the Marion Superior Court and as a Special Prosecutor in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Ann has handled more than 35 jury trials and 25 bench trials in her career. She has argued cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Judicial Circuit and the Supreme Court of Indiana. Ann has been recognized as an Indiana Superlawyer and has also been awarded the AV Peer Review Rating by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell for ethical standards and legal ability.
Ann is the former chair of the Indiana Democratic Party. She served as Campaign Manager and spokesperson for then-Governor Evan Bayh’s re-election campaign in 1992. For the 2008 presidential election, Ann serves as the State of Indiana Co-Chair of the John Edwards for President Campaign. Ann authored Politics for Dummies™, published by IDG Books Worldwide, now in its second edition. She is perhaps most widely known for her weekly contribution to political discourse as a panelist on the political roundtable television show, Indiana Week in Review.
Ann’s leadership has been recognized by numerous institutions. In September 2007, Ann was recognized as a Touchstone Honoree by Girls Incorporated ® of Indianapolis, an organization inspiring girls of Central Indiana to be “strong, smart and bold”. In 2006, Ann received the Torchbearer Award for Advocacy from the Indiana Commission for Women. In 2001, the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington inducted Ann into the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows, the highest honor bestowed upon graduates of the law school. Ann is a 1977 graduate of the school and has served as the President of its Board of Visitors. In September 2001, the Indianapolis Bar Association’s Women and the Law Division recognized Ann as an outstanding woman lawyer by selecting her for the Antoinette Dakin Leach Award. The Indianapolis Bar Association selected Ann to serve on the Judicial Evaluation Committee for 2002.
Ann currently serves as Executive Director of the Julian Center, a United Way Agency which provides shelter and counseling to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Indianapolis. She was appointed by Former U.S. President William J. Clinton to serve as a Standing Trustee for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in the Southern District of Indiana.
Ann and her husband and law partner, Ed DeLaney have three adult children
(including Kathleen) and six grandchildren. They reside in Indianapolis.
Edward O. DeLaney
Ed DeLaney is a Partner in the firm. Ed is one of Indiana’s most experienced trial lawyers. He has handled a wide array of civil cases for more than 30 years. He has been selected for recognition in the Best Lawyers in America® for multiple years in such categories as Business Litigation and First Amendment Law. He has spent more than one full year of actual time in front of a jury. He has tried cases in Indiana, Delaware, Arizona, and Kentucky as well as in Europe. At the end of 2003, he retired as a Partner from the firm of Barnes & Thornburg where he had practiced since 1973. In January 2005, he joined DeLaney & DeLaney.
Ed has trial experience in all types of civil cases from jury trials to injunctions, has handled cases ranging from election law to labor disputes and from divorce to products liability. He has argued appeals in the federal and state systems. His principal areas of expertise are business disputes (fraud, breach of contract), securities law, estate-related controversies, First Amendment and access to records litigation. His clients have included National City Bank, Edward Jones & Co., Merrill Lynch, the Knight-Ridder Newspapers, The Indianapolis Star and General Motors. He has served as local counsel or co-counsel for lawyers from all over Indiana and the United States. Ed was the founding lawyer for Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. Ed has also been active in international trade work, especially as it relates to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He represented the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in an arbitration hearing under the Dayton Peace Accords. Ed speaks Russian fluently.
Ed has a B.A. and an M.A. (International Relations) from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He graduated from the Harvard Law School with Honors in 1973. He studied there after serving in the United States Navy from 1967-1969. He became a Partner at Barnes & Thornburg in 1980, and was elected to terms on its Management and Compensation Committees.
In addition to his professional work, Ed has been active in the community. He served as Treasurer of the Marion County Democratic Party and former Gov. Evan Bayh as Chair of the Indiana Development Finance Authority from 1990-1996. He chaired the Clinton-Gore campaign in Indiana in 1992 and co-chaired the John Edwards campaign in Indiana in 2004. He has been an election monitor for the International Republican Institute in Russia. He has been a member of the Indianapolis Police Merit Board and President of his Parish Council. He serves the Indianapolis Bar Association on its Judicial Evaluation Committee. Ed is the Democratic candidate for the Indiana House District 86. In April 2008, Ed was honored as a Distinguished Barrister by The Indiana Lawyer.
For some 25 years Ed has trained both groups and individuals in the skills of an advocate. Ed’s experience as a trial lawyer has been recognized by both the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum. He has served on their discovery and trial faculties for many years.
Ed married Ann DeLaney in 1967. They have three adult
children, Kathleen DeLaney, Jennifer DeLaney, M.D. and Tim DeLaney,
who also practices law in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ed and Ann have six
grandchildren.
Amanda Couture
Amanda Couture, one of our associate attorneys, joined the firm in February 2007. She is a cum laude graduate of Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington (2004). From 2004-06, Amanda served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Richard L. Young of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. During the clerkship, she honed her legal research and writing skills by helping to prepare judicial opinions regarding various areas of federal law, including employment, intellectual property, contracts, and criminal law.
Following her clerkship, Amanda joined the United States Department of Transportation’s Honors Attorney program in Washington D.C. While there, she worked with the Maritime Administration’s Division of Litigation and General Law and with the General Counsel’s Office of Environmental, Civil Rights, and General Law. Her most significant projects included equal employment opportunity cases and citizens’ environmental suits.
Amanda was recently lead counsel for two arbitration hearings in employment disputes. She has also served as lead counsel for several hearings and as second chair for various trials, including contract and election disputes.
Amanda is an Indianapolis native and a graduate of
North Central High School. She earned her undergraduate degree, cum
laude, in philosophy from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.
She participates by invitation as an Associate in the Sagamore American
Inn of Court.
Craig M. Blanchet
Craig M. Blanchet joined DeLaney & DeLaney LLC as an associate in June 2007. He is a 1998 graduate of the Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis.
As a law student, Craig was named to the Order of Barristers in recognition of his Moot Court competition successes. Craig completed his legal studies while working full-time as a Bailiff in Marion County Superior Court 6. As a Bailiff, Craig managed jury trials, as well as researched, reviewed and advised on dispositive civil motions and jury instructions.
Following law school, Craig served as a law clerk to the Honorable L. Mark Bailey of the Indiana Court of Appeals. During his tenure as a law clerk, Craig assisted the Court with researching and drafting numerous civil and criminal opinions and prepared a CLE presentation on Appellate Practice.
Prior to joining DeLaney & DeLaney, Craig brought his legal writing and advocacy skills to bear for several established Indianapolis law firms. In this capacity, Craig assisted in all facets of civil trial preparation and appeals. Craig has also made academic contributions to the development of Indiana tort law. For example, he was a contributing author on “Recent Developments in Indiana Tort Law,” Indiana Law Review, Vol. 36 No. 4 2003.
Since joining DeLaney & DeLaney, Craig has briefed and argued civil litigation matters to Indiana trial courts and administrative bodies in the areas of contract, business, and employment law. At the appellate level, Craig’s practice has included the drafting of briefs and motions before our Indiana Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of Indiana. Craig is a member of the Indiana State Bar Association.
Craig is the father of four school-age children and
lives with his wife, attorney Kimberly Blanchet, in the Butler-Tarkington
neighborhood, on the near northside of Indianapolis. Craig is actively
involved in the development of young people in his community, as both
a sports coach and school volunteer.