Managing Partner

Several years ago, Edward S. Civera was hired as a financial expert in the case of a teen-age boy who had been electrocuted on a farm. The utility company admitted it was at fault, but because the boy was a slow learner, the family wasn't expected to get much of a settlement.But Mr. Civera came up with a novel strategy. He argued that the boy was a 4-H winner and so, despite his learning disabilities, he would have been able to run a dairy farm. Mr. Civera's argument carried the day, and he was able to help get the boy's family a $2 million settlement.

Weinberg and Green could be on the verge of laying off at least 11 of the approximately 110 lawyers who practice at the state's seventh-largest law firm, as former Weinberg attorneys and other observers predict more shrinkage at the Baltimore firm.Managing partner Charles O. Monk II refused to comment Tuesday, and did not return calls yesterday, about reports from former Weinberg attorneys that at least 11 and possibly more than 20 attorneys would be let go as the firm struggles to reorganize after losing seven partners since September.

From his 16th-floor office on South Pratt Street, Cleaveland Miller enjoys a splendid view of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, but it's a pleasure he no longer takes for granted.As managing partner of Semmes, Bowen and Semmes, Mr. Miller knows his clients are more impressed with bottom lines than baselines. For this and other reasons, he recently presided over a painful downsizing, giving up space and generally re-engineering or right-sizing his old-line Baltimore firm.Semmes avoided capsizing, in part, because it was not the first in Baltimore to find itself threatened by an unprecedented array of economic forces: the collapse of commercial real estate, the decampment of banking and other business to other cities, the lingering recession, demanding clients in search of the best for less and start-up competitors able to offer lower fees via technology and modest space with no view.

New positions* Security Square Mall announced the appointment of Deirdre Moore as general manager. She was formerly with Urban Retail Properties' Military Circle Mall in Norfolk, Va.* TEAMS Management Co. selected Scott A. Skokan as vice president of maintenance services.* Maryland Science Center named Ann E. Peebles senior director of development for the Inner Harbor educational attraction.* Loundon Park Funeral Home at Loundon Park Cemetery has chosen Neil Piner general manager, Anthony Dimuzio funeral director, Alan Purvis Sr. apprentice funeral director and Tammy Webster as administrative secretary.

New positionsTrace Laboratories-East, an independent test laboratory in Linthicum, promoted Scott S. Opperhauser to general manager.WNUV-TV Channel 54 in Baltimore appointed Len Weinstein local sales manager.Majestic Distilling Co. Inc. in Baltimore promoted Lee Schuman to executive vice president.92 STAR, a Baltimore radio station, appointed Bill O'Brien program director and Danny Ocean evening radio host.McCrone Inc., a regional engineering, environmental consulting, land planning and surveying firm, named Jeffrey W. Greene assistant department head in the Prince Frederick office and Francis K. Abell Jr. branch manager of the La Plata office.

'Woody' Preston back looking into S&LsIt's just like old times for Wilbur "Woody" Preston, chairman of the Baltimore law firm Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and author of what came to be known as the "Preston Report" on Maryland's 1985 savings and loan crisis. Mr. Preston this week was appointed legal adviser to the new National Commission on Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement.The bipartisan commission has been instructed by Congresand the White House to examine recent events in the savings and loan industry, and to suggest legal and regulatory changes by February.

Semmes, Bowen & Semmes yesterday unveiled a reorganization that eliminates 44 administrative and support jobs, a move the law firm expects will save $1 million annually and ensure its survival.Semmes' decision to cut one quarter of its staff comes in response to the departure of 17 partners in the past year -- and six in the past two weeks. In recent weeks speculation has mounted that the 90-year-old firm would dissolve because of a loss of revenues and competitive industry pressures.With the departures, Semmes now has roughly 85 attorneys and 131 support and administrative staff, down from the nearly 200 ++ attorneys who practiced there a decade ago. Just a few months ago, Semmes had 275 people on its payroll.

William F. Neale, managing partner of engineering firmWilliam F. Neale, retired senior managing partner of a consulting engineering firm, died Sunday of heart failure at the Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.Services for Mr. Neale, who was 79 and lived in Carney, will be held at 10 a.m. today at the Towson Presbyterian Church, Chesapeake and Highland avenues.Mr. Neale retired in 1978 from Whitman, Requardt and Associates, in which he had been a partner since 1956. He first worked for the firm in the mid-1940s.

James T. Wharton, testifying to a federal jury, described May 26, 1988, as "a terrible day."That was when he learned from officials of Dresser Industries Inc. that one of his law partners, Edward S. Digges Jr., had overbilled the client by astronomical amounts, charging for legal work that was never done and charging partner's rates for work done by law clerks and associate lawyers.But Wharton admitted yesterday that, even though he came to realize Digges' billing fraud had substantially elevated his income as a law partner -- to $1.7 million over three years -- he has not yet paid back any of the money to Dresser Industries.

Christopher D. Olander, managing partner of the Baltimore law firm of Shapiro and Olander, said yesterday that he will turn over day-to-day management of the firm to three senior partners and devote his time to a growing consulting practice.Olander said his corporate law practice, the firm's management and his business consulting practice had become too much to handle. "I saw the collision coming," he said.As a result, Olander, who has run the firm for 20 years, will relinquish control to senior partners Charles Fax, Joel Sher and William Carlson on Feb. 1. The move removes the 27-year-old firm's second founding partner from its management team.