A graduate of Wabash College and Indiana University School of Law, Mr. Merkle practices in the areas of business and tort litigation and employment law. A significant part of his practice is devoted to the defense of major manufacturers in product liability cases and commercial litigants in contract, fraud and securities litigation brought both in federal and state courts. He served as liaison counsel in multi district litigation filed in Indianapolis and was actively involved in coordinating the defense of class action claims and over five hundred personal injury and wrongful death claims.  In the multi-district litigation, Mr. Merkle worked closely with the Court to coordinate activities with local, regional and national counsel.   As a member of the Employment Law Practice Group, Mr. Merkle has advised clients on labor matters from negotiating collective bargaining agreements to obtaining judicial relief during a labor dispute. Mr. Merkle has represented management in disputes regarding employment agreements, union representation petitions and unfair labor practice charges. He has handled matters before the National Labor Relations Board and private arbitrators.  Mr. Merkle has a wide and varied experience with employment contracts and restrictive covenants and has drafted such contracts from a litigation perspective and then enforced those contracts in state and federal courts and before AAA and NASD Arbitration Panels.  During his tenure with the Firm, Mr. Merkle served as Acting General Counsel for a national manufacturing concern.  In that role, he was responsible for drafting contracts, leases and other commercial agreements, rendering advice on human resource issues and managing outside counsel in commercial litigation cases.