Indiana

The Local Legal Initiative provides local news organizations with direct legal services to pursue enterprise and investigative stories in their communities.

Indiana is the most recent addition to the Local Legal Initiative. Since the program’s launch in 2024, Local Legal Initiative Attorney Kris Cundiff has filed lawsuits on behalf of local newsrooms in the state, including one seeking access to the cost of a lethal injection drug that enabled the state to carry out its first execution in 15 years, and another alleging that a local school board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law by taking unlawful official action in a private meeting when filling a vacant board seat.

Outside of litigation, Cundiff has helped journalists navigate legal issues through the Reporters Committee’s free Legal Hotline. He has also vetted local news outlets’ investigative stories before publication to reduce legal risk.

Learn more about the Local Legal Initiative’s impact in other states.