Barnes & Thornburg Appoints Timothy Emerick as Office Managing Partner in South Bend, Elkhart

SOUTH BEND – Barnes & Thornburg announced today that Timothy A. Emerick has been named the new managing partner of the firm’s South Bend and Elkhart offices. Emerick succeeds John C. Smarrella, who will be stepping down from office leadership to focus on his corporate and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) practice.

An attorney with the firm since 2006, Emerick advises buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions, represents lenders and borrowers in commercial financing transactions, assists clients with real estate acquisitions and dispositions, and negotiates and establishes joint ventures. In addition, Emerick is involved in the issuance of legal opinion letters, as well as drafting and negotiating complex business contracts and tending to corporate governance matters for clients.

“Tim is a long-time member of Barnes & Thornburg and a significant contributor to the advancement of the firm’s South Bend and Elkhart offices,” said Andrew J. Detherage, firm managing partner. “Tim is appreciated by his clients, colleagues and constituents for being a likable, objective, and forthcoming individual, attributes that will certainly prove beneficial as Tim steps into this new leadership role.”

Emerick is also a certified public accountant (CPA), practicing public accounting for two national accounting firms prior to attending law school. As an attorney and a CPA, he provides business-minded advice to his clients, skills that will be put to good use in his new office leadership position.

“I am honored to be named managing partner of the firm’s South Bend and Elkhart offices,” said Emerick. “As I step into this role, I look forward to building on the firm’s historical significance and long-term commitment to the South Bend and Elkhart region with a modern approach to the practice of law. I am eager to ensure that our offices, comprised of attorneys and business professionals who remain fully vested in our community, are providing clients throughout north central Indiana and across the firm’s national platform with exceptional service.”

The firm, a product of a 1982 statewide merger between Indianapolis-based Barnes, Hickam, Pantzer & Boyd (founded in 1940) and South Bend-based Thornburg, McGill, Deahl, Harman, Carey & Murray (founded in 1926), has been a member of the South Bend and Elkhart communities for nearly 100 and 40 years, respectively.

With more than 800 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Atlanta, Boston, California, Chicago, Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Jersey,