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Attorney David Barrett had a daunting task in 2008—to integrate Baker & Daniels’ business attorneys and staff
into a unified team. Today, the more than 50 professionals are still geographically separated, but united by specialties:
mergers and acquisitions, tax law, securities and corporate law. The group has become more effective and profitable.
“I realized I wanted to be a business lawyer” after studying economics at Wabash College, he said. He went to
the Indiana University School of Law.
The work of business lawyers mainly gets done outside courtrooms, so people rarely see them portrayed in television’s
legal dramas like “Law & Order,” he said.
While business practice may not seem as heroic as saving an innocent defendant in a murder case, the work can be just as
demanding, Barrett said.
“Hard work is the way I’ve been successful,” he said. “I figure out what it will take to get a job
done, a contract signed” and then put in the work and the time.
“I pride myself on being in constant contact with clients.”
As the first lawyer in his family, he had no footsteps to follow or fill.
As board chairman of The Villages of Indiana for the past two years, he is involved in everything from constructing a building
to analyzing reimbursement rates for the not-for-profit social services agency for children and families.
More recently, he joined the board of Junior Achievement, and he chairs the finance committee of his church, New Hope Presbyterian
in Fishers.
“I’m a late-night person” who can work after his family has gone to bed, he said.
To unwind, Barrett tries to play tennis several times a week, and is a passionate fan of IU sports, as well as the Pittsburgh
Steelers and Cincinnati Reds.•
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