2012 Forty Under 40: Joshua P. Hollingsworth

Joshua P. Hollingsworth

Where were you, and what were you doing in 1991?
A sophomore at North Central High School.

When you graduated from high school, what did you think you wanted to be as an adult?
An attorney.

Was there an event in the last 20 years that had a great impact on your aspirations and/or career path?
As a summer law clerk in 1999, I had my first exposure to real civil litigation. After seeing the lengths to which clients and attorneys would go to annoy the other side and avoid resolving the case on the merits, I began to view civil litigation as a basically absurd exercise that I wanted no part of. I decided I wanted to become a business attorney.

Have you been mentored by (or had any significant interactions with) previous Forty Under 40 honorees?
Probably the biggest mentor has been David Millard, chair of Barnes & Thornburg’s corporate department. Before I met David I thought there were basically two independent paths to being a good lawyer: be a good technical lawyer and or be a good business developer. David showed me that you not only can be both, but to work at the very top of the profession you have to be.

Where/what do you want to be 20 years from now?
I want to be the preeminent corporate attorney in the state of Indiana with a leadership position in my firm.

Partner, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Age: 36

Joshua Hollingsworth jumped on the Super Bowl XLVI band wagon early. As a civic-minded attorney with an interest in sporting events, he did “a ton of work” as a member of the legal and strategic advising committee, from reviewing venue contracts to general legal issues concerning insurance, risk management and general contracts.

He is also co-chair of the brand management committee, which promotes Indianapolis through the Super Bowl. That committee developed the Super Bowl XLVI Faces campaign, 46 videos of local people involved in Super Bowl events.

“Hopefully through the faces of the 46 people, we’ll learn a little bit more about what’s great about Indianapolis,” said Hollingsworth, an Indianapolis native and North Central High School grad.

Except for college, Hollingsworth has always lived in Indy. He attended Miami of Ohio to study history and political science, which he said is largely useless unless you’re going on to law school, so he did, at Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

“I always wanted to be a lawyer,” he said. “My dad was a lawyer.” Joshua made partner within five years of joining Barnes & Thornburg in 2005, specializing in business mergers and acquisitions. He relishes the variety and complexity of the companies he deals with, the intense immersion in the details of their business, and the negotiating.

Finish Line’s acquisition of the Running Co. stores, and the sale of Carmel-based J.D. Byrider used-car franchisor are deals he recently handled.

Hollingsworth is married to Kena Hollingsworth, who is an attorney in private practice and a 2008 Forty Under 40 recipient.

He is also on the boards of the Happy Hollow Children’s Camp in Brown County and the Community Development Law Center, which provides or arranges for free legal services to other not-for-profits.

With the Super Bowl frenzy winding down, he’ll be concentrating on becoming one of the leading merger and acquisition attorneys in the state. And one more thing.

He might take a vacation.•