Joshua A. Claybourn is more than just a lawyer. He is a trusted advisor who helps clients achieve their goals and overcome their challenges. Whether it’s securing intellectual property rights, closing complex deals, or navigating government regulations, Claybourn provides the knowledge and experience to deliver results.
Claybourn leads the Firm’s Intellectual Property and Licensing practice group from our office in Evansville, Indiana. He possesses a passion for protecting and enhancing valuable brands and IP assets in business, banking, entertainment, and publishing. He has earned a reputation as a trademark “Leader” by the World IP Review (WIPR), a comprehensive guide to the top intellectual property lawyers across the globe.
Claybourn works with clients of all sizes and stages, from small entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. He handles business formations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and economic development projects with skill and efficiency. He also tackles difficult and innovative projects involving public-private partnerships and state and local incentive packages. He represents municipalities and units of government in utility, annexation, reorganization, funding, and budget issues with professionalism and integrity.
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 also offers extensive experience in utility law. He worked in-house with a large publicly traded energy company, where he gained valuable insights into the industry. He now advises renewable energy developers, municipal water and sewer utilities, and industrial consumers on various matters like supply agreements, contract disputes, leases, bond financings, zoning and land use, and regulatory approvals and rate cases. He has handled rate cases for some of the largest and smallest utilities in the state.
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. He is also a prolific writer of books and essays on non-legal topics — especially Abraham Lincoln. He supports several history non-profit groups and has appeared on national television documentaries about Lincoln.
