Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas left a mammoth Indianapolis law firm to return home to Northwest Indiana, a career turn his mentor and former boss says has made him a strong candidate for Indiana attorney general.

Robert Grand is the managing partner for the Indianapolis office of Barnes & Thornburg, the largest law firm in Indiana. It’s where Costas landed as a litigation attorney after graduating Valparaiso University School of Law in 1989.

“He did extraordinarily well in law school, obviously,” Grand said. “And if you interview with him, I think it becomes pretty apparent that he’s a hell of a guy.”

Costas said he stayed with Barnes & Thornburg less than three years before yearning to return home to Valparaiso, where he would go on to become a city councilman and mayor. Last week he announced plans to seek the Republican nomination for attorney general.

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