
Circle City Conversations
The Unexpected Path to the Courtroom: Matt Bigler on Trial Law and Perseverance
In this episode of Circle City Conversations , Alex Limontes continues the Cinco de Mayo Podcast Tour with the second stop at Ladendorf Fregiato & Bigler, sitting down with attorney Matt Bigler. Growing up in Washington, Indiana, Matt never initially imagined a career in law. His early goal was to become a high school history teacher and coach, but an unexpected change in direction eventually led him from Indiana State and Purdue to IU Law School and ultimately into the courtroom. In this episode… Matt shares the winding path that brought him into the legal profession, including his early experiences in education, graduate school, and the pivotal encouragement from a friend that led him to an internship with the prosecutor's office. After beginning his legal career in Warrick County, Matt moved to Indianapolis and quickly found himself handling DUI cases and serious alcohol-related crashes. That experience became the foundation for his approach to investigating complex personal injury cases. The conversation explores how skills developed as a DUI prosecutor, including analyzing blood alcohol evidence, cell phone data, crash reconstruction, and causation, translate directly into personal injury litigation. Matt also discusses getting early trial experience, trying jury cases within months of joining Marion County, and why hands-on courtroom experience remains so important for attorneys who want to become effective litigators. The conversation also dives into some of Matt's most memorable cases, including a complicated dram shop lawsuit involving a bar, a staged scene, criminal proceedings, and the challenge of gathering the evidence necessary to prove liability. Matt explains why he gravitates toward complex liability cases, wrongful death, medical malpractice, crash reconstruction, and cases involving law enforcement. In this episode of Circle City Conversations , Matt Bigler offers an honest look at an unpredictable legal career, the value of trial experience, and the importance of staying authentic along the way. From his early ambitions of teaching and coaching to becoming a trial lawyer and firm owner, Matt's story is a reminder that careers do not always follow the path you expect and sometimes the unexpected turns lead you exactly where you belong.






