William John Reinke

With a career spanning across more than four decades, Mr. William Reinke has established himself as an outstanding legal professional having tried cases from coast to coast. Presently enjoying the fruits of his labor in retirement, he can reflect on a career that has helped scores of clients. One of his greatest achievements was a trial involving inverse condemnation. In this case, Mr. Reinke’s client was the neighbor of someone whose land was taken by the state, and due to this the roads and streets around the property were rerouted. This lead to the client’s backyard becoming his front yard. Upon seeking compensation from the state for this grievance, he was denied and followed this action by filing a suit. As a result of this case, Mr. Reinke created a doctrine of inverse condemnation which provided compensation for landowners whose land had been compensated.

Mr. Reinke’s career as a lawyer began in 1957, when he joined as an associate of Barnes & Thornburg (and predecessors). He became a partner of the firm in 1961, and remained in this role until 1996, whereupon he was made of counsel. In addition to these roles with the firm, he served as a chairman of the compensation committee and the management committee. His interest in the legal field was piqued by the dean of his college, Bryon Trippett. Professor Trippett taught a course called English Institutional History and one of the things he learned during this time was how crucial lawyers were to the workings of society. In making the decision to go to law school, Mr. Reinke said to himself, “If I’m going to go through this life once, then I want to be in the center of the action.” After earning an AB, cum laude, from Wabash College in 1952, he continued at the University of Chicago to receive a JD in 1955. He was admitted to the bar in the state of Indiana that same year.

In addition to his work in the legal field, Mr. Reinke served to the rank of Sergeant in the United States Army. Throughout his career, he has received many accolades for his work, including the Wabash College Richard O. Ristine Award in 2018 and the Life Patron Fellowship from the St. Joseph County Bar Foundation. In 2019, Mr. Reinke published “A Hoosier Trial Lawyer’s Notebook.”