I am a trusts, estates, and elder law attorney and civil mediator in Indiana and Illinois with more than 26 years of practice experience in estate planning, trust & estate administration, elder law, and business law.

            My wife and law partner, Jennifer Hawkins, formed Hawkins Elder Law with me in 2001 as a boutique trust, estate, and elder law firm in Southwestern Indiana. Both lawyers are Trust & Estate Specialty Board Certified Indiana Trust & Estate Lawyers. Both lawyers practice throughout Southwest and West Central Indiana, and I practice throughout Southeastern Illinois. I am also an Indiana Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). Both lawyers are members of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and the Indiana NAELA chapter, and I am a member of the Illinois NAELA Chapter.

            Dispute resolution has become one of my passions. I accept engagements throughout Indiana and Illinois for pre-suit and litigation settlement mediation. More than 26 years of experience in trust, estate, business, municipal, real estate, and elder law has equipped me with an unusually broad and deep understanding of those practice areas.

            My volunteer service in the Indiana State Bar Association and its affiliated organizations has extended throughout my career. From my early service as a member of the Young Lawyers Section Council in the early 1990s to service as President of the Indiana State Bar Association (October 2014 - October 2015), I have accumulated a national network of public service colleagues.

            The responsibility that I value most beyond my household is my leadership of the Westside Church of Christ in Sullivan, Indiana, as one of its elders. Preaching, teaching children’s classes, and counseling congregation members of all ages is a pastoral calling in which my fellow elders and I engage earnestly.