IBJ Media names Jim Meyer editor of The Indiana Lawyer

IBJ Media announced Friday that Jim Meyer, news editor of The Herald-Bulletin in Anderson, will become editor of The Indiana Lawyer on June 24.

Meyer, 44, is a Pennsylvania native who studied journalism at Slippery Rock University. Meyer said he enjoyed writing about crime and courts while working as a reporter for newspapers in the communities of St. Mary’s and Oil City in his home state.

“I enjoyed everything from the hardcore crime coverage to just sitting in court,” Meyer said. “I found the law and interpretations of the law fascinating. … I’m going to bring that enthusiasm and experience to The Indiana Lawyer.”

The Lawyer, launched in 1990, covers the Indiana legal community, courts and judicial opinions in an every-other-week newspaper and daily at theindianalawyer.com and through email newsletters.

Meyer will succeed Olivia Covington in the role of editor. Covington, who was hired as editor in June 2021, departed IBJ Media in February to take a role as business development specialist for law firm Dentons Bingham Greenebaum.

Before graduating from Slippery Rock University, Meyer served in the U.S. Army for eight years. He worked as a vehicle mechanic during one deployment to Kosovo and two deployments to Iraq.

Meyer said his military experience is helpful in the day-to-day tasks of journalism.

“I would say it definitely contributes to flexibility and adaptability,” Meyer said. “A journalist can have what’s basically a 9-to-5, but you never know what’s going to happen that day.”

Meyer will lead the four-person staff of The Indiana Lawyer, which is part of the IBJ Media newsroom that includes Indianapolis Business Journal and Inside INdiana Business.

When naming Meyer as editor of The Indiana Lawyer, IBJ Media also announced that Lesley Weidenbener, editor of Indianapolis Business Journal, will become assistant publisher of the IBJ and The Lawyer.

IBJ Media CEO and Publisher Nate Feltman became the company’s sole owner in March.

“We are excited to welcome Jim Meyer to the team,” Weidenbener said. “He brings a great combination of skills to the post: He’s a former courts reporter, currently edits a team similar in size to The Indiana Lawyer staff and has been working for several years in Indiana, so he understands the local landscape. And we think his military experience also brings a great perspective to the company.”

Weidenbener said IBJ Media is entering a new era of integrating the expertise of staff members at the IBJ, Inside INdiana Business and The Indiana Lawyer to inform consumers of each platform.

“Our goal is to harness the power of our combined, larger newsroom to bring readers the most important business and legal stories of the day and to help them make good decisions about their lives and organizations,” she said. “Jim will be an important part of that effort.”