Apryl E. Underwood is a litigation associate in the Indianapolis office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP and a member of the firm's Toxic Tort Practice Group and Commercial Litigation Practice Group. Ms. Underwood has diverse experience litigating product liability, personal injury, contract, white collar crime and patent infringement claims in areas including pesticides, medical devices, software programs, genetics, aerospace design, and communications technology.
Prior to joining Barnes & Thornburg, Ms. Underwood was a summer associate in the firm's Indianapolis office where she drafted briefs for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and researched and analyzed issues in the areas of healthcare; environmental policy; aviation; finance, insolvency and restructuring; sports and entertainment; energy and utilities; litigation; and labor and employment law. Ms. Underwood also served as a judicial intern for the Honorable William Hanrahan of the Dane County Circuit Court, as well as a legislative affairs intern at the Indiana Minority Health Coalition.
Prior to her legal experience, Ms. Underwood worked as a genetics researcher for the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology.
Ms. Underwood received her B.A. in psychology from Saint Mary's College, where she was a presidential scholar. She earned her M.S. in Medical Science from Indiana University School of Medicine, and her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she participated in the Heffernan Moot Court Competition and won the Best Closing Argument award at the Mock Trial Competition.
Ms. Underwood has a record of service as a tutor in the United Way ReadUp program. Prior to law school, she served as a SPRITE mentor, a program providing guidance to juvenile offenders. Ms. Underwood also interned as a grant writer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana, and worked one year as a program specialist at Girls, Inc., where she taught adolescent girls in the areas of culture, health, poetry, drama and dance, and created multicultural awareness programming. Ms. Underwood is trained by the Red Cross to provide HIV/AIDS education.
Ms. Underwood is a member of the Indianapolis Bar Association. She is admitted to practice in the states of Indiana and Wisconsin, and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana.
Publications
· For The Defense - "Genetic Testing of A Plaintiff - The Pros and Cons"