Tom and Kathy Jenkins

Tom Jenkins
BA 1965, English, Purdue
JD Law 1968, Indiana University, School of Law

Attorney at Law; Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman

JANE KATHRYN NOLTE JENKINS (KATHY) 
BA 1966, Foreign Languages & Literatures, Purdue (with Distinction)
JD Law 1994, Indiana University, School of Law

Attorney at Law; J. Kathryn Jenkins

Tom:
As an attorney, Tom advises clients in the areas of estate planning and business transactions and services. In addition he advises clients relating to fiduciary matters, including trusts, estates, guardianships, and similar fiduciary relationships. Tom was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1968. Professionally, he served as Regional Trust Counsel for Banc One Corporation (1994 to 1998) and served as the chief legal officer for the Indianapolis Trust Departments of Banc One and its predecessor, American Fletcher National Bank & Trust Co. before that. In addition, Tom served as President and Director of Circle Income Shares, Inc. (a closed-end investment company) from 1994-1997, having been involved with the company since 1977.Kathy has her own practice focusing in the area of family law and estate planning; she is also a trained and registered family law mediator.

Tom served as a member of CLA Dean's Advisory Council from 1999-2003 and is the outgoing immediate past president of the CLA Alumni Board. Tom’s volunteer activities also include Meridian Street United Methodist Church’s Permanent Endowment Fund Chairman and member of the Board of Trustees for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis and a member of the board of directors’ member for the Indiana Repertory Theatre. Tom is a past recipient of the CLA Distinguished Alumni Award (1991).

Tom and Kathy enjoy traveling and recently returned from a trip to Egypt. The Jenkins have three children and live in Indianapolis.

Kathy:

Currently practices law in Carmel, Indiana, with cases focused primarily on family law which includes adoption, paternity matters, divorce, and other family related areas. She also works in the area of wills and estate planning. She has served as a guardian ad litem for children where the courts determined that the needs and best interest of the children should be represented by someone independent of the parents or the attorneys of the parents. She has represented clients in all of the central Indiana counties but work mostly in Hamilton and Marion counties.

Her decision to enter law school was a mid-life decision, and was attending law school at the same time her older children were undergraduates. Since graduating she has worked both with a mid size law firm and now as a sole practitioner where she values her ability to control her own schedule and work load. She is a registered mediator in the family law area and has trained in the area of collaborative law which has as its goal helping people settle their cases through collaboration and negotiation rather than by litigating in a court room.

While at Purdue, Kathy was involved in student government serving as the director of the student Office of International Affairs. She was a member of Mortar Board and a sorority and served as a student representative for what was then known as HSSE, a predecessor of the College of Liberal Arts.

After graduating from Purdue, Kathy taught Spanish at the secondary and elementary levels and was also very involved in a variety of volunteer organizations where she gained experience in community needs assessment, lobbying for new child abuse laws, and organizing a national sporting competition in Indianapolis. Kathy has served on the Board of Directors for the Family Service Association of Indianapolis, Healthy Families of Hamilton County, and the Indianapolis Junior League. She is past president of the Indianapolis alumnae association of her sorority and received the award as the outstanding alumnae in 2004 for service both to the sorority and to the community. She is active at Meridian Street Methodist Church currently serving as chairperson of the Staff/Parish committee. Kathy is also a member of Impact 100 which is a women’s giving organization that annually makes grants to local not for profit organizations after an extensive evaluation of grant proposals.