The Indiana Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, created by Ind. Trial Rule 80, meets monthly, usually on the third Friday of the month. The committee is charged with the duty of reviewing the rules and making recommendations for improvement to the Indiana Supreme Court. Proposals for amendments come to the committee from various sources, but most often from bar and bench committees and organizations and individual lawyers. Proposed rule amendments are reviewed and developed by the Committee throughout the year and are posted for public comment by December 1 of each year. After a sixty-day comment period, the Committee reviews the proposed amendment in light of the comments received and prepares a report with recommendations concerning the proposed amendments, which is presented to the Supreme Court by May 1 of each year.
In order to meet the December 1 posting for public comment deadline, proposed amendments should be in the hands of the Committee as soon as possible, but not later than October 1 of each year. Because of the time it takes to vet proposed amendments, there is no guarantee that a proposal presented by October 1 will be ready for publication by December 1. Therefore, the earlier a proposal is presented to the Committee the better the chance it can proceed to public comment in December, as opposed to having to wait until the following year.
Currently, among the matters before the Committee are proposals regarding attorney advertising rules, the unauthorized practice of law, changes of judge in paternity cases, and residual hearsay rules. The Committee welcomes specific proposals for rules amendments. They can be sent to Thomas M. Carusillo, Division of State Court Administration, 30 South Meridian Street, Suite 500, Indianapolis, IN 46204 or [email protected].