Peter J. Rusthoven

Peter J. Rusthoven, a partner in the Indianapolis office, has a multi-dimensional practice. His business experience includes transactional and corporate governance work, in areas ranging from manufacturing to publishing to healthcare.

Peter was active in drafting Indiana's corporation statute and official comments and has frequently written and spoken on corporate change-of-control issues. In the governmental services area, he is experienced in gaming and alcoholic beverage licensing and other regulatory and legislative services matters.

Peter's litigation practice focuses on appellate and trial-level advocacy involving significant legal issues. He had a lead role in briefing the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark CTS case (upholding the constitutionality of an Indiana change-of-control law), and represented America's largest insurance associations defending holding-company acts in multi-state litigation. Other examples of his trial and appellate advocacy involve areas as diverse as banking, contract, environmental, labor, and utilities law (including the firm's 1999 Indiana Supreme Court victory in the SBC/Ameritech merger case).

Since 2014, Peter has been recognized on the Indiana Super Lawyers list for his work in appellate, business/corporate and civil litigation defense law. Peter has also been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America: in 2016 he was named a "Lawyer of the Year" for his work in appellate and gaming law. He has also been recognized in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business since 2011.

Peter is a 1973 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, in 1976 from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He was associate counsel to the president of the United States from 1981 to 1985 and in 1986 was counsel to the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. In 1998, he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator from Indiana. He is a board member of the Educational CHOICE Charitable Trust and regularly appears on television and radio programs on public and political affairs.

Peter is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; the Supreme Court of Indiana; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal, Third, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits; and the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana.