Nancy J. Townsend has extensive experience representing clients before state and federal courts at all levels, beginning with her service as a law clerk to the Honorable James T. Moody in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in 1985. She represented large corporate clients and government agencies in banking litigation, through her practice with the national firm of Hopkins & Sutter (now merged with Foley & Lardner).
Ms. Townsend also has nearly 20 years’ business and commercial experience in the northwest Indiana legal community, in the areas of municipal law, land use, annexation, planning and zoning, contracts, commercial litigation, corporations, and business formation and representation. She has successfully represented clients at all levels in State and Federal courts, including many cases presented to the Indiana Court of Appeals and a recent oral argument that secured a reversal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She has special expertise from her presentation of cases involving the application of the Indiana Planning and Zoning Code and local municipal subdivision control ordinances and zoning codes.
Ms. Townsend is a graduate of Notre Dame Law School, where she studied as a White Scholar and an editor of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. She received her bachelor’s degree, with high honors, from Marian University in Indianapolis, where she earned the Outstanding Senior Award in each of her two majors, Business Administration and Psychology.
Ms. Townsend is admitted to practice in Indiana, Illinois, and Texas and nearly all of the federal and state courts in those jurisdictions. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Indiana State Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and Lake County Bar Association. She is a native of northwest Indiana and graduated with highest honors from Lake Central High School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Lake Central Scout.
In her leisure moments, Ms. Townsend might be spotted running through northwest Indiana neighborhoods or attempting a local race. She has gained great joy and insights from raising her five active children.