Joshua A. Claybourn is a Member focusing on intellectual property, renewable energy and utilities, commercial transactions, and state and local government. He practices out of the Firm’s office in Evansville, Indiana. A genuine curiosity about business and people drives Claybourn’s practice. He actively listens, learns, and provides timely guidance to execute business strategies.
As the Firm's Intellectual Property and Licensing practice group leader, Claybourn provides counsel on trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and licensing. He ensures valuable brands and IP assets remain intact and commercially viable. His experience includes successful negotiations and litigation for a variety of IP infringements, licenses, and transfer agreements in business, banking, entertainment, and publishing. He has been recognized as a trademark “Leader” by the World IP Review (WIPR), a comprehensive guide to the top intellectual property lawyers across the globe.
Claybourn’s clients range from small entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. He serves as lead counsel for business formations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and economic development projects. In addition to traditional municipal finance transactions, Claybourn works on more difficult, complex projects involving public-private partnerships and state and local incentive packages. He also represents municipalities and units of government in utility, annexation, reorganization, funding, and budget issues.
Claybourn has briefed and argued many high-profile cases in state and federal appellate courts on behalf of both private and governmental clients on constitutional, statutory, regulatory, and other legal matters.
Claybourn previously worked in-house with a large publicly traded energy company, providing substantial experience with utility law. He currently consults with renewable energy developers, municipal water and sewer utilities, and industrial consumers on supply agreements, contract disputes, leases, bond financings, zoning and land use, and regulatory approvals and rate cases. His rate case experience ranges from some of the largest utilities in the state to some of the smallest.
The Indianapolis Business Journal named Claybourn one of the state’s 250 most influential business leaders in its first year of the award, and Indiana Lawyer named him an "Up and Coming" attorney in its first statewide award. A prolific writer, Claybourn keeps his skills sharp by penning books and essays on a variety of non-legal topics — including several books about Abraham Lincoln. He assists several history non-profit groups and has appeared on several national television documentaries about Lincoln.
