Chief Judge

Baltimore Judge Martin P. Welch, who's served on the city's circuit court for 18 years, has become the new chief judge, replacing John N. Prevas, who died of a heart attack Monday. The title is bestowed on the most senior judge, who then presides over judicial ceremonies and signs official correspondence, including summonses. It doesn't come with a salary increase — just prestige. Welch, who was named to the post Tuesday, is thought to be the city's second black chief judge, behind Clifton J. Gordy, who briefly held the post in 2006 before retiring.

Suzanne K. Mensh, who served Baltimore County for nearly five decades as an Orphans' Court judge and then as clerk of the county Circuit Court, died Wednesday at Northwest Hospital. Her family said no cause of death was given. She was 82. "She was a sincere lady," said a son, Spencer Mensh of Reisterstown. "The first word that comes to mind with her is 'integrity.'" Judge Mensh was encouraged to run for office by members of a local Democratic club who worked with her at polling locations, her son said.

Judge John Prevas loved the music of rockers Steely Dan and sang most Wednesdays at Southeast Baltimore karaoke bars. He was recalled Tuesday as an old-school, tough jurist who knew his law inside and out and could also argue baseball trivia with the best. Judge Prevas, the chief judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, died of a heart attack Monday night at Mercy Medical Center. He was 63. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski called the judge "a friend, an adviser," adding that "Baltimore has lost a truly great man. " Born in Baltimore, he was the son of an attorney, Konstantine "Gus" Prevas, who survives him and lives in Baltimore.

Suzanne K. Mensh, who ran Baltimore County's orphans' court for two decades and served as Circuit Court clerk for six terms, died Wednesday at Northwest Hospital. Her family said no cause of death was given. Mensh, 82, had been admitted to the hospital four days earlier because of her deteriorating physical condition, said a son, Spencer Mensh of Reisterstown. "She loved, heart and soul, what she did," he said by phone Friday. Mensh served as the clerk of the Baltimore County Circuit Court from 1986 until May 2010.

Chief Judge Bell honored for efforts on conflict resolution Maryland's chief judge, Robert M. Bell, will receive an award this month from the American Bar Association for "advancing the appropriate use of mediation and other non-adversarial forms of conflict resolution in the court system and in the wider community," the ABA said yesterday. The award will be presented March 21 in San Antonio. Bell created a commission in 1998 and then a state office to take nonconfrontational methods of conflict resolution to courts, schools and communities.

Judge Alexander Harvey 2nd plans to step down March 8 as chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Baltimore and become a senior judge.His successor, Judge Walter E. Black Jr., 64, is to be sworn in as chief judge in a ceremony that day.Harvey, 67, has been chief judge for five years. He has been on the federal bench for more than 25 years after being originally appointed by President Johnson.Harvey could have retained the chief judgeship until his 70th birthday. But he said yesterday relinquishing the post to become a senior judge would open another full-time judgeship on the busy district bench, something he feels is needed with the pending construction of the so-called "southern district" wing of the court in the Washington suburbs.

Hall Hammond, a dominant figure in the Maryland judicial system for decades before his retirement as the state's chief judge in 1972, died early yesterday of cancer at his home in the Ruxton Village Apartments. He was 89.Described yesterday by one former associate as a "titan" and "one of the shining lights" of his profession, Judge Hammond served on the state Court of Appeals for 20 years, the last six as chief judge.Judge Hammond had served as Maryland attorney general from 1946 until being named to the state's highest court in 1952.

Ailene W. Hutchins, a former educator and Orphans' Court judge who wrote widely about her native Calvert County, died in her sleep June 23 at her home in Prince Frederick. She was 86. Ailene Williams was born and raised on her family's farm near Barstow, and graduated from Calvert County High School. At 19, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1939 from Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College. She taught French, English and drama at Calvert County High, and was the school's guidance counselor from 1951 to 1963.

Anselm Sodaro, Baltimore's former chief judge who as a prosecutor won a stunning conviction in the 1952 Grammer murder case, died of cancer Sunday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 91 and had lived in Towson for a decade. He was the city state's attorney from 1950 to 1956, winning national attention for sending a Northeast Baltimore man to the gallows for murdering his wife in what was dubbed "the almost perfect crime." Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin, a Republican, picked Judge Sodaro, a Democrat, to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City - now the Circuit Court - in 1956, and he remained on the bench for nearly 35 years.

Michael Waring Lee, chief judge of Baltimore City Orphans' Court, died Sunday of complications after colon surgery at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Northwest Baltimore resident was 42.Judge Lee was a great-nephew of Everett J. Waring, who in 1885 became the first black admitted to the Maryland Bar.Judge Lee also made history -- as the first black to be appointed a chief judge of any court in Maryland. In 1983, he was 30 years old when Gov. Harry R. Hughes selected him to fill a vacancy on the three-member Orphans' Court.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for sunny skies, with a high temperature near 78 degrees. It is expected to be clear tonight, with a low temperature around 50 degrees. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT... Baltimore County unions oppose Kamenetz pension bill : Public-employee unions are urging Baltimore County Council members to reject a proposal by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz that would cut pension benefits for some workers, saying it sends a bad message to labor leaders and undermines negotiations.

J. Robert Brown, a retired attorney and Social Security Administration judge, died of stroke complications Saturday at the Lorian Health System Mays Chapel. He was 85 and lived in Timonium. Born in Baltimore and raised on Belgian Avenue in Pen Lucy, he attended Blessed Sacrament School and was a 1944 graduate of Loyola High School, where he played football. "He was a good athlete. He ran fast and he was durable," said a longtime friend and retired attorney, James O'Conor Gentry of Timonium.

Judge Joseph F. Murphy Jr., who retired from Maryland's highest court last fall, has agreed to represent Sen. Ulysses Currie in an ethics inquiry expected to get under way in the General Assembly later this month. Currie, a Prince George's County Democrat who was acquitted of federal  corruption charges in November, could face disciplinary proceedings as a result of his admitted failure to fully disclose his ties with Shoppers Food Warehouse at a time when he was intervening before state agencies on the grocery chain's behalf.

Clayton Cann Carter, a retired Queen Anne's County Circuit Court judge who was a Maryland history buff and a collector of Maryland-related objets d'art, died July 30 of an apparent heart attack at Chesterfield, his Centreville home. He was 92. The son of a miller and a storekeeper, Judge Carter was born and raised in Centreville. He was a 1935 graduate of Centreville High School and earned a bachelor's degree in 1939 from Duke University. "There were only 11 grades in those days at Centreville High School and he was 16 when he entered Duke, where he earned his degree at 20," said a daughter, Rachel MacDonough Carter Gross of Chestertown.

Solomon S. "Sol" Goldberg, a retired lawyer who had been deputy chief judge advocate of the Army's Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, died Jan. 31 of undetermined causes at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air. He was 89. Mr. Goldberg, the son of a grocer and a homemaker, was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was a graduate of city public schools. He had completed his pre-law training and his first year of law school at St. John's University in New York City when he was drafted into the Army in 1942.

While politicians are sworn in throughout Maryland this month, at least one general election winner from Baltimore may not make the final cut. Laudette Ramona Moore Baker won an uncontested spot on the city's Orphans Court in November — after a dozen years of running for various offices under different combinations of her four names. Yet, despite her victory, she never received the governor's commission required for her swearing-in. And according to Gov. Martin O'Malley's spokesman, she likely never will.

Rosa Lee Bell, the mother of Maryland's chief judge, died Tuesday of a circulatory ailment at her home in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was 84 and formerly resided in East Baltimore. She was born Rosa Lee Jordan in Enfield, N.C., the oldest girl in a family of 11 children. Her parents were sharecroppers. "When the crop had to be gotten out, she was not in school. At best, she completed the third grade. Later in life, she taught herself to read and got an eighth-grade equivalency certificate," said her son, Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals.