Firms

Wading through swamps and running up mountains taught Patrick McCormack more than how to survive punishing conditions without much food or sleep. His grueling Army Ranger training, along with several deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan , taught the Ellicott City native important business lessons as well. "It takes a lot of discipline to run your own company," said McCormack, 29, who owns custom drum maker MapleWorks Drum Co. in Millersville. "You don't make it through [Ranger] school unless you have the drive and motivation to do what you have to when someone is not watching over you. " McCormack, a member of the elite Ranger corps from 2000 to 2007, recently began promoting his veteran-owner status in online business directories and on the company's website.

The city's housing authority is considering hiring three private firms to oversee public housing construction and renovation projects worth tens of millions of dollars over the next two years. The companies would coordinate all aspects of the projects, including putting individual contracts out to bid, lining up architects and engineers, and arranging for permits. The Housing Authority of Baltimore City says the move would save the city money by putting experienced construction professionals in charge of projects, and having the companies assume the risk of work coming in late or over budget.

Anthony Conti was 25, fresh from law school, when Piper Marbury Rudnick and Wolfe offered him his first job two years ago. But before he started work, the firm sent him two letters - bumping his starting salary $10,000, to $95,000. "I was ecstatic," Conti recalled. Faced with competition from dot-coms and other technology firms, law firms across the nation were forced into bidding wars for new talent. To compete for top graduates, for example, Baltimore law firms raised the average salary for new attorneys almost 20 percent.

One of Baltimore's leading independent accounting firms has merged with the local office of Grant Thornton LLP, the nation's seventh biggest accounting group, officials at both firms said yesterday.Kamanitz Uhlfelder P.A., based in Pikesville, merged with Grant Thornton effective Dec. 1, partner Larry Kamanitz said. The firm had been in business for more than 30 years, and Mr. Kamanitz had gained prominence as president of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants and chairman of the state panel that regulates the profession.

MONKEYING WITH STATE contract awards is dangerous business. In fact, tilting the playing field is strictly illegal. These multi-million-dollar awards must be given only to the lowest bidder or the best-qualified applicant.So why is Gov. Parris Glendening demanding that state officials do more to give these contracts to in-state companies? He recently blocked the award of one state contract at the Board of Public Works and nearly rejected a second contract because the winning bidders were not Maryland firms.

The City Council has given preliminary approval to a bill that would set stiff penalties for unlicensed firms that tow illegally parked vehicles from private property.Under a city law that went into effect last August, firms must be licensed to tow vehicles from private property. The law was enacted after the council received many complaints from motorists who accused the firms of charging exorbitant fees and engaging in other questionable practices. Violators of the law face fines ranging from $50 to $500.

Michael Davis has had visions of heading a large law firm in Columbia for 20 years, and last year he thought he had made a step in that direction by merging his firm, Davis & Agnor, with another local firm of two attorneys. But when that combination didn't work, Davis' team decided to try again -- and quickly -- with Susan Rapaport and Paul Skalny. The second time, Davis said, is the charm. "I can't wait till we're under one roof," he said. "I really want to see the whole team come together."

Executives at the Rockville accounting firm Aronson & Company may soon consider dropping their publicly traded business clients. They say sweeping new accounting reforms designed to curb corporate fraud, and signed into law by President Bush this week, could make it too expensive to audit public companies. "We definitely have it on the radar scope to consider," said Lisa Cines, Aronson's managing partner. "We're waiting to see what the cost will be. There's no question it will cost more; it's just the magnitude of it that's still in question."

Sledgehammers and saws will be the tools of acquisition fo O'Conor, Piper & Flynn this spring, once it completes its merger with Church Circle Realty in downtown Annapolis. O'Conor, Piper, which has an office adjoining Church Circle's, will simply tear down a wall to join with the smaller firm.That's one of the simpler mergers for Timonium-based O'Conor, Piper, whose ambitions extend throughout metropolitan Baltimore and beyond.O'Conor, Piper is on a buying spree. In the first three months of 1993, it has picked up three realty firms with a total of 75 agents.

Two of the biggest short-term winners in the $12 billion-plus merger between WorldCom Inc. and MFS Communications Co. are Baltimore-area firms.The Baltimore venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates Inc. will see the value of its 5.7 million shares of MFS skyrocket if the all-stock deal, the value of which changes with fluctuations in WorldCom's share price, goes through at anything like the $55.39 a share the parties agreed to last weekend.That price would make New Enterprise's stake in the combined company worth $318 million, a remarkable return on the $3.9 million the firm invested only two years ago in Uunet Technologies Inc., a Virginia-based Internet service provider.