With over 25 years in practice, Joel Hand brings uncommon depth to cases involving criminal charges, traffic offenses, education disputes, and administrative hearings. He has worked on both sides of the courtroom, as a criminal defense attorney and as a deputy prosecutor in Marion, Hamilton, and Carroll Counties. Joel has conducted more than 100 jury trials and hundreds of bench trials, covering a wide range of cases such as OWI/DUI, drug and gun offenses, domestic violence, neglect, theft-related charges, robbery, and burglary, including serious felonies up to murder. He also assists with probation and community corrections violations, expungements, and specialized petitions related to driving privileges and license suspensions. Joel’s traffic safety work is especially notable. He developed the Fatal Alcohol Crash Team (F.A.C.T.) concept in Marion County, obtained federal grant funding, and served as the team’s first prosecutor and liaison. In 2004, he was appointed Indiana’s first Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor, training police and prosecutors across Indiana and beyond. He also has significant experience in education law, state agency matters, and legislative lobbying.
