Family Law

A GOOD LAW involves two essential ingredients. It must aim to accomplish something worthwhile, and it must be crafted to fulfill that aim only. Anne Arundel County's so-called "family conveyance" law meets only the first of these criteria. Its goal to make it easy for families with property to carve out lots for children and other close relatives makes sense. But faulty construction of the law has allowed it to be used in a way it was never intended as a loophole for development in areas where growth is not planned.

Workers used to worry that if they took time off for family or medical reasons, they would get fired. Now a federal law guarantees that you can be out for up to 12 weeks per year in certain cases and still have a job. Unfortunately, it isn't always that easy.Many businesses don't like the Family and Medical Leave Act. While it's illegal for them to punish you for taking leave, companies have found legal ways to, in effect, do just that.In a nutshell, the law protects most people who work for a company with 50 or more employees and have clocked at least 1,250 hours during the past year.

WITH GOV. PARRIS N. Glendening's decision to use state dollars to fund nutrition and other welfare benefits for children of legal immigrants, Maryland has put itself in the forefront of states that are refusing to live with one of the most controversial provisions of the welfare reform bill passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.For Maryland, doing the right thing was made easier by savings from lower caseloads that offset the projected $9 million annual cost. Even so, the decision affects only families with children, leaving many refugees and other adults adrift.

Elizabeth Carol Yarema, an attorney who believed in solving issues by mediation, died of a pulmonary embolism Monday at her northern Baltimore County home. She was 38. Born in Baltimore and raised in Sparks, she was a 1987 graduate of St. Paul's School for Girls, where she was yearbook editor and contributed to the school's literary magazine and newspaper. She received the Trustee Award, given to a student with "outstanding character, good citizenship, and who contributes with service to the community."

As Shirley L. Bigley worked her way up from law school graduate to Citibank Maryland vice president during the 1980s, she never felt like a pioneer among working women.It was more like being part of a movement, she says. Sure enough, newly released 1990 census figures show Ms. Bigley had plenty of female company as she climbed the job ladder.Tens of thousands of Maryland women -- and millions across the United States -- moved into professional and managerial jobs during the 1980s, the data show.

As law firms across the country cut back, Offit Kurman has grown. Rapidly. The firm, founded in Towson 25 years ago, doubled its revenue from 2008 to 2011 — a period that included the worst-in-decades recession — and added dozens of employees as it expanded its reach across the Mid-Atlantic. Now Offit Kurman employs about 170 people and expects to keep growing, said Ted Offit, managing principal of the firm and one of its founders. A lawyer and certified public accountant, Offit, 56, lives in the Glyndon area of Baltimore County with his wife, Risa.

Maryland is one of three states that requires workers in certain occupations to report child abuse but whose law doesn't include criminal sanctions against those who fail to do so, according to a state legislative analysis. That distinction met with renewed criticism last week after a Baltimore Sun investigation by Tricia Bishop revealed court records claiming that a Catholic school principal and other Catholic officials were aware of a teacher's sexual abuse of students, but didn't report it until the teacher was under investigation - years after the crimes took place in the 1970s.

Nearly two dozen alleged members of a prison gang that started in Maryland and spread across the country have been indicted on federal racketeering charges, including accusations of murder for hire, armed robbery and drug running, officials announced Wednesday. The members of Dead Man Inc., who refer to themselves as "dawgs" and espouse an anti-government philosophy, used contraband cellphones to direct activities and spread gang membership into South Baltimore, eastern Baltimore County, northern Anne Arundel County and several other states, authorities said.

For years, as the Maryland prison gang Dead Man Inc. grew in numbers and influence, law enforcement authorities watched anxiously as the scheduled release of the gang's reputed leader drew closer, wondering what his return would mean for the violent group's burgeoning street presence. The climax was expected to come Tuesday — the day Perry Roark was scheduled to complete his 25-year term and exit a free man. But before his scheduled release, state police and Anne Arundel County prosecutors effectively turned back the clock by resurrecting a 17-year-old murder charge, ensuring that Roark, who is believed to have founded the gang in a Maryland prison, will remain locked away for now. Law enforcement officials say it is a temporary solution to dealing with the growing influence of the gang, whose membership is expanding beyond prison walls.

Carol Cooper, of Cockeysville, recently became a member of Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf & Hendler LLC. An ARD&H associate since 2002, Cooper has achieved Martindale-Hubbell's AV Preeminent rating. She was selected twice as a "Rising Star" by Maryland Super Lawyers and named in Washington D.C. & Baltimore's Top Rated Lawyers 2012 Edition. Serving in the firm's family law and litigation practice groups, she represents clients in matters related to divorce, custody, visitation, child support, prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, adoption and other civil litigation.