2024 20 in their Twenties: Hayley Sears

Attorney | Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Age: 28

Hometown: Evansville

Education: bachelor’s in politics and policy, Liberty University; law degree, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Family: husband, Cole; expecting first child in November; dogs, Winston and Moose

Years with organization: 1

First job: working at a child care center after school and during the summers 

Givebacks: co-founder, Champions Together, a partnership between the IHSAA and Special Olympics Indiana

Something surprising: “I was one of the few people [who] got to sit in the room during Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Senate confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Coffee order: iced vanilla latte with almond milk

Hayley Sears describes her role at Taft as “problem solver.” For municipal clients, that means she’s responsible for helping Hoosier cities, towns, mayors and council members effectively serve their constituents and better their communities. For non-municipal clients, that means helping find creative and efficient solutions to conflict—sometimes advocating on their behalf in the state and federal judicial system and sometimes in non-judicial negotiations. Sears first worked for Taft as a summer intern in 2020, then interned as a clerk for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where she assisted with the confirmation of Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. After earning her law degree, she was a judicial law clerk for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana. Since joining Taft as an associate attorney last September, she has had the opportunity to assist her Taft colleagues in drafting an amicus curiae brief to the Indiana Supreme Court—and the court decided the case in the Taft client’s favor. “It felt very meaningful to submit something to our state’s highest court regarding important constitutional rights,” she said.•

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