Law Firm

Tens of thousands of lawsuits against Maryland debtors over unpaid bills are being tossed out of court because the law firm pursuing the debt-collection cases has abruptly shut down. The move gives a temporary reprieve to Marylanders in default on a variety of bills, particularly credit card payments, and burdens the already strained District Court system, which now has to sort through the legal morass left behind. It is unclear whether the creditors will refile the lawsuits seeking payment.

Annapolis lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano is appealing a federal judge's decision to uphold his 1994 fraud convictions, according to court records. Bereano will be taking his case — based on an argument from the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court's decision in an appeal of the case against former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling — to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, his attorneys wrote in a court filing Thursday. A federal jury convicted Bereano on eight counts, though one was later dismissed, of mail fraud that stemmed from the funneling of illegal campaign contributions to Maryland politicians.

Samuel Jackson Lanahan Sr., a tax expert and founding partner of the prominent Washington law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, died Friday of a pulmonary embolism at a hospital in Torquay, England. He was 79.Known as Jack, he was a resident of Trappe, in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore, since he retired in 1981. He also had a home in Dartmouth, England, where he was vacationing at the time of his death.The Baltimore native was the son of William Wallace Lanahan Sr., a prominent philanthropist and investment banker, and Margareta Pleasants Bonsal.

Llewellyn Washington Woolford Sr., a retired Social Security Administration attorney who was a past Howard County Human Relations Commission chairman, died of stroke complications Feb. 22 at his Columbia home. He was 81. Born in Baltimore and raised on Robert Street, he was a 1947 Frederick Douglass High School graduate. He earned a bachelor's degree at Lincoln University and a law degree at Howard University, where he was a founding editor of its law journal. Family members said that while a student at Howard, he witnessed Thurgood Marshall in a moot court argument of the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education case.

Kenneth Donald Pezzulla, an attorney who assisted immigrants in buying their first homes and later helped develop an Ocean City condominium, died of a sarcoma Aug. 26 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 81 and lived in Lutherville. Born in Endicott, N.Y., he played football and basketball while a student at Union Endicott High School and attended Augusta Military Academy in Fort Defiance, Va. He joined the Army and was assigned to Munich in post-World War II Germany. He conducted research and gathered evidence for the Nuremberg war crimes trials as a member of the 17th Airborne Division's War Crimes Group.

Joseph Maher has joined the family law firm of Weinberg and Schwartz LLC, in Columbia, as an associate. He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law and a 2005 graduate of Kalamazoo College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology. Maher previously served as the law clerk for the Hon. Louis A. Baker for the Circuit Court for Howard County. Thiagarajan and Kamala Sethurama , of Ellicott City, have purchased the Fresh Healthy Vending franchise and are in the process of selecting locations where each machine will be placed.

Michael S. Radcliffe, a partner in a Baltimore County law firm, died July 22 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, at his Timonium home. He was 54. Born in Silver Spring, Mr. Radcliffe moved to Timonium with his family when he was a year old. He was a 1974 graduate of Dulaney High School. He earned a bachelor's degree and in 1983 a law degree from the University of Baltimore Law School. Mr. Radcliffe practiced law in Towson with his father, M. Stanley Radcliffe, until the latter's death in 1988.

Colt & Haslinger, a new Columbia-based law firm that will specializein family and criminal law and civil trial work, has opened its practice in the Equitable Bank Center on Little Patuxent Parkway.Jerome Colt, formerly of Gelfman & Spahn, has practice law in Howard County since 1977 and concentrates in domestic law.Nancy Haslinger, who has practice law for five years, is a formermember of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee staff.Both Colt and Haslinger live in Columbia.ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO 1CAPTION: Nancy Haslinger (left)

TOWSON - Former County Circuit Judge Donald J. Gilmore will join the law firm of Parks, Hansen & Ditch and head its planned new office in Carroll.Gilmore recently retired from the bench after serving 13 years, 11 of those as administrative judge. In that capacity, he was responsible for the scheduling of cases and directing the physical and budgetary operation of the court.He also oversaw the restoration and rededication of the Carroll County Courthouse.Parks, Hansen & Ditch, headquartered in Towson, Baltimore County, is a nationally known firm that engages in general civil practice, including litigation, corporate, estate planning and administration, family law, real estate and development, and commercial and banking law."

A member of the board overseeing Baltimore's multimillion-dollar federal revitalization effort is questioning $118,510 in budgeted payments to Shapiro & Olander, the law firm of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's two top political aides.Robert C. Embry Jr. yesterday asked why the city's $100 million empowerment zone program was paying Shapiro & Olander when another prominent law firm had offered to handle legal work for free.Mr. Embry, president of the Abell Foundation, never mentioned the firm's close ties to the mayor, but said he wanted to know more about the payments.

Augustus F. "Gus" Brown, principal in the law firm of Brown, Brown & Young, P.A., in Bel Air, was a featured professor recently in a combined University of Maryland Carey School of Law and University of Baltimore School of Law third-year law student Litigation Skills Program. This program, a combined full-semester course coordinated by the American College of Trial Lawyers, invites experienced practitioners to address the law students, all under the supervision of faculty advisors, Judge J. Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court for Maryland and Professor Jerome Deise of the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. With Brown on Jan. 9 were Kathleen Meredith and Paul Mark Sandler, two Baltimore area litigation experts, and the sessions were moderated by James R. Chason of the American College of Trial Lawyers, who complimented Brown by saying this his presentations, "Really got the program off to a great start!"

Kenneth Halls Masters, an attorney who represented Catonsville and Arbutus in the Maryland General Assembly, where he had been House majority leader, died of cancer Tuesday at Sinai Hospital. He was 68. Born in Washington and raised at Scientists Cliff in Calvert County, he was a 1961 graduate of Charlotte Hall Military Academy. Interested in politics as a teen, he campaigned for longtime Maryland Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein. He earned a bachelor's degree at what is now Towson University, where he was student body president.

Heather Swan , an attorney with the Columbia law firm of Carney, Kelehan, Bresler, Bennett & Scherr, LLP, has been accepted as a member of the 2012 Leadership Essentials class administered by Leadership Howard County. Leadership Essentials, a six month development program run collaboratively by Loyola University Maryland and Leadership Howard County, focuses on the young professional who is developing leadership skills and community awareness. This program empowers and connects leaders to strengthen and transform the community – giving participants firsthand experience with critical issues and opportunities in Howard County, and challenging them to turn their leadership into action.

Maryland regulators said Tuesday that a Virginia law firm must pay a $489,000 penalty for charging homeowners upfront fees to help them seek loan modifications — in violation of state law — and blanketing Maryland with advertisements despite having no state license. The Law Offices of Perry and Associates, attorney Michael A. Perry and Anthony Dolphus were also ordered to stop soliciting loan-modification business in Maryland, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said.

Robert Belknap Green, the managing partner of a Towson law firm, died Oct. 28 at Sinai Hospital after suffering a heart attack while driving to work. The Roland Park resident was 61. "Bob was the best partner and friend anyone could ever have," said his law partner David B. Irwin, who lives in Cockeysville. "He was the glue that kept our firm together, and he was the best counselor anyone could ever hope to have. " Born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park, Mr. Green was the second of four sons of Richard H. Green, a Chesapeake & Potomac telephone marketing manager and Elizabeth B. Green, an office manager for the Boy Scouts.

Joseph Maher has joined the family law firm of Weinberg and Schwartz LLC, in Columbia, as an associate. He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law and a 2005 graduate of Kalamazoo College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology. Maher previously served as the law clerk for the Hon. Louis A. Baker for the Circuit Court for Howard County. Thiagarajan and Kamala Sethurama , of Ellicott City, have purchased the Fresh Healthy Vending franchise and are in the process of selecting locations where each machine will be placed.

Semmes Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore's fourth-largest law firm, has elected Cleaveland D. Miller, a specialist in banking and corporate law, as its chairman.Mr. Miller succeeds Geoffrey S. Mitchell, 53, who decided not to stand for re-election after a turbulent three-year term. Mr. Mitchell will return to the full-time practice of international law in the firm's Washington office.Since the 1950s, Semmes has routinely rotated partners through the chairman's post. The 107-year-old firm, which had 17 lawyers when Mr. Miller joined it in 1963, now has 140 attorneys working out of offices in Washington, Towson, Hagerstown and Wilmington, Del., in addition to Baltimore.

The executive director of Baltimore-based Civil Justice, a nonprofit legal-help group best known for its foreclosure defense work, announced Tuesday that he will be stepping down to join a private law firm. Phillip Robinson said his departure date hasn't been set — he will remain with Civil Justice as it conducts a national search for his replacement — but he hopes the handoff will happen in January. He intends to join Legg Law Firm in Frederick. In Robinson's eight years at Civil Justice, the small nonprofit has worked to improve Marylanders' access to legal expertise, especially in real estate matters.