We answer the phone.
A Lafayette general practice firm for business, real estate, estate planning and probate. Founded in 1972.
Schedule a consultationMost legal problems start as errands.
A lease to sign, a building to buy, a parent's paperwork to sort out. They stay errands right up until the moment they stop, and by then the useful window has usually closed.
Three attorneys, one phone number.
There is no intake queue here. You call the office, somebody picks it up, and the person who reads your documents is the person you spoke to.
On North Fourth Street since 1984.
The firm opened in 1972 and moved into the Vater Building, built in 1879, twelve years later. Long enough to know how Tippecanoe County actually runs.
01 The firm
Most legal work is done before anything has gone wrong.
At Gambs, Mucker & Bauman, we answer the phone. We get to know you and tailor our legal services to effectively approach resolutions for you or your business. The firm was founded in 1972 and has been in Lafayette's historic Vater Building, built in 1879, since 1984.
Business organization and transactions, commercial and residential real estate, Section 1031 exchanges, estate planning, probate and family law mediation. A general practice, which in a town this size is the useful kind.
What the firm handles
02 Why a small firm
Three attorneys is the whole point
Somebody actually picks up
It is the firm's own first promise about itself, and it is a lower bar than it sounds until you have spent a week leaving messages somewhere else. Three attorneys, five people, one number. The person who answers can usually help, and if they cannot they know who can.
The same building since 1984
The firm opened in 1972 and moved into the Vater Building, put up in 1879, twelve years later. Forty years in one address in a county seat means the courthouse, the recorder's office and half the businesses on the square are a walk away rather than a phone tree.
One firm across the whole arc
A business buys a building. The building ends up in an estate. The estate raises a family question. Those are three practices in most towns and one conversation here, which means nobody is paying an attorney to be brought up to speed on facts you have already explained twice.
01/03
03 Practice areas
Business law
Forming and updating corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, drafting and negotiating contracts, and the day to day transactional work a business actually runs on.
Commercial real estate
Purchases, sales and leases of commercial property, including the title work, the survey questions and the financing documents underneath them.
Residential real estate
Representation for people buying or selling a house, from the purchase agreement through the deed and the closing.
Section 1031 exchanges
Structuring a like kind exchange so gain on an investment property is deferred under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 instead of being recognized at the sale.
Estate planning
Wills, trusts, powers of attorney and health care documents, drafted to do their job without being more complicated than the family needs.
Probate and estate administration
Settling an estate through the Tippecanoe County courts, with or without a will, and guardianships for a family member who can no longer manage.
Family law mediation
Mediation of family law disputes by a trained mediator, aimed at an agreement the parties write themselves rather than one a court imposes.
Memberships, admissions and education across the firm: American Bar Association. Indiana State Bar Association. Tippecanoe County Bar Association. Indiana Association of Mediators. Admitted in Indiana since 1975. Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, J.D. magna cum laude. Indiana University at Bloomington School of Law, J.D. summa cum laude. University of North Dakota School of Law, J.D. with distinction. Order of the Coif. Order of Barristers. Purdue University, B.A. 1972. U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana. Indiana Domestic Relations Mediation Training. Certified Legal Assistant, National Association of Legal Assistants. Offices in the Vater Building, built 1879.
04 The people
Two of them have been here since the seventies
Read their backgrounds
Robert L. Bauman
Attorney, founding member
Keith R. Fafarman
Attorney
Pam Hermes
Attorney
Beth Watts
Certified Legal Assistant and office manager
Christi Lower
Paralegal
05 In their words
Thank you for guiding all of us through this time. I appreciate the kindness you showed me with all my phone calls. Thank you for being at my mother's funeral too! God Bless You!
The firm names its organizational clients publicly and does not name the people. You can see who it works for and, if you have worked with them yourself, add your own account below.
06 Reviews
If the firm did right by you, say so where it counts.
Most people looking for an attorney in Tippecanoe County start with a search and read whatever comes back. A few sentences from someone who has actually sat across the table is worth more to them than anything written on this page.
5.0
out of five, from 7 Google reviews
Source: the firm’s Google Business Profile
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Contacting Gambs, Mucker & Bauman does not create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing on this site is legal advice. Please do not send confidential information until a written engagement is in place.