“I’m very committed to the city. I love the law and love working with students. I love the arts, I love working with youth, and am a mentor in several different programs.”

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Age 38

Assistant Dean for the Office of Professional Development, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

As a lawyer working in higher education to help other lawyers, Chasity Thompson believes she has the best of both worlds.

“I have a passion to work with students,” said Thompson, who is assistant dean in the Office of Professional Development at Indiana University’s McKinney School of Law. “This was a really good fit for me to work in the law, still do some pro bono cases and still be in education.”

The office helps veteran lawyers make career transitions as well as assisting students in their job search. Support is also there for students who, like Thompson, are the first in their families to enter the legal profession.

Her grandmother and parents were all teachers, and her mother is a retired principal. Besides her law degree, Thompson has undergraduate degrees in English and business administration from Alabama State University and an MBA from Auburn University. She is working on a doctorate in higher education at IU.

Thompson, who is single, moved to Indianapolis from her hometown of Montgomery, Ala., in 1999 to attend law school and stayed.

“The city has been very good to me. I really enjoy it,” said Thompson.

After law school, she clerked for Chief Justice Randall Shepard of the Indiana Supreme Court, then returned to the law school, working her way up to the dean’s office.

She and professor Jonna MacDougall created a class, Law Practice Management, to help students understand the business side of the profession.

She is active in bar associations at the national, state and local levels. Through the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership program, she became involved with the Crooked Creek Community Development Corp. in Washington and Pike townships. She also mentors middle-school age girls.•