John R. Maley

John R. Maley, a partner in Barnes & Thornburg LLP's Indianapolis, Indiana office, 2025-26 President of the Indiana State Bar Association, past-president of the Indianapolis Bar Association, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, listed in Best Lawyers in America®, the top-ranked attorney in the 2009 Indiana SuperLawyers® survey of all Indiana attorneys and regularly ranked in the top ten, and named by Best Lawyers 14 times as "Lawyer of the Year" for several areas in Indiana including Bet-the-Company Litigation, Labor & Employment Litigation, and Appellate Practice, and ranked Band One in Chambers for Employment and Litigation.

John concentrates on labor and employment, litigation, and appellate practice.  He is Chair of the firm's nationwide Labor & Employment Department.  He regularly represents publicly traded and private companies and governmental entities in regional and national employment matters and litigation. He has extensive trial experience in multiple jurisdictions, including as a pro bono deputy prosecutor and as court appointed trial counsel. He has also served as lead counsel in appeals in the United States Supreme Court, Indiana Supreme Court, Indiana Court of Appeals, Arizona Court of Appeals, Michigan Court of Appeals, Ohio Court of Appeals, Ohio Supreme Court, Pennsylvania Appellate Courts, and the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th Circuits. Mr. Maley is also admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern and South District of Indiana, and federal courts in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Colorado.

Mr. Maley received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and M.B.A. from Indiana University. In 1988 he received his J.D. summa cum laude from the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, where he was executive editor of the Indiana Law Review. From 1988 to 1990 he served as law clerk to the Honorable Larry J. McKinney in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. Mr. Maley has served as an adjunct lecturer at the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and lectures for the  Indiana Bar Review. He has published numerous articles on federal practice, is the author of the Appellate Handbook for Indiana Lawyers, and lectures frequently on federal civil practice, noncompete, and employment matters. His many civic activities include service as chair since 1993 of the Local Rules Committee, S.D. of Indiana, member of the Local Rules Committee, N.D. of Indiana for over 25 years, past-chair of the Marion County Local Rules Committee, member of the Seventh Circuit's Pattern Civil Jury Instruction Committee, president of the Indianapolis Bar Association, president of the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, President of the Indiana State Bar Association, president of the Indianapolis Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, president of his law school's alumni association, and chair of the Indiana State Bar Association's Appellate Practice Section. Mr. Maley has also chaired Barnes & Thornburg's Appellate Practice Group and Library & Technology Committee, and led the firm's Pro Bono Committee for 20 years. He is listed in Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in Indianapolis Law, and is a fellow of the Indianapolis and Indiana Bar Associations. He served on the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association Board of Directors for a three-year term. 

He is married to Vivian Maley and has five sons.  He and Vivian co-founded the Joseph Maley Foundation - josephmaley.org - in 2008 in honor of their son and his legacy. The Foundation serves youth in the Greater Indianapolis area, having served more than 500,000 youth since inception.