Before joining Sommer Barnard in 1996, Mr. Strain was the Chairperson of the Business Department of Barnes & Thornburg where he had been a partner since January 1, 1976. Mr. Strain primarily practices in the areas of securities law, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. Before joining the predecessor of Barnes & Thornburg in 1973, Mr. Strain had been law clerk to then Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist, October Term 1972, and before that to Judge John S. Hastings, then Senior Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1970-71. Between his clerkships, he was an associate with Cahill, Gordon & Reindel in New York City. Mr. Strain was one of the architects of the Indiana Business Corporation Law and successfully defended its Control Shares Acquisition Chapter before the United States Supreme Court in CTS Corporation v. Dynamics Corporation of America. He has been recognized in the top tier of leading corporate/M&A lawyers in Indiana in Chambers USA Clients Guide of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business since it began its U.S. publication and is the only M&A lawyer to be named as one of the top 10 Superlawyers in Indiana. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for more than twenty years.