On the Move – Legal edition

Posted: 7:00 pm Sun, July 18, 2010
By Daily Record Staff

Raymond A. Hein has been named the new deputy bar counsel for the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland. His appointment took effect July 1. Hein has been an assistant bar counsel with the commission since 1993. He succeeds Glenn M Grossman, who was appointed the commission’s bar counsel in May. Hein was in private law practice from 1987 to 1993. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University, he earned his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1986. He then clerked for Judge Robert L. Karwacki of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Hein has been a member of the Baltimore County Board of Education Ethics Review Panel since 2004, and is a member of the Baltimore County Public Schools Citizens Advisory Committee for Gifted and Talented Education.

June 4 was designated Tribute to E. Scott Johnson Day in Maryland to honor Johnson, head of the intellectual property group at Ober|Kaler, of Baltimore, who is stepping down as chair of the Maryland State Arts Council. Johnson is a past president of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Maryland Lawyers for the Arts, the CityLit Project and Young Audiences of Maryland. He is a co-founder and immediate past chair of the Maryland Film Industry Coalition, and serves on the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Film Production Workgroup.

Michael Siri, a senior associate in the litigation department of Bowie & Jensen, has been named to the board of the Maryland Bar Foundation and chair of the Foundation Fellows. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, including construction law and estates litigation. Siri also sits on the board of the American Subcontractors Association–Baltimore Chapter. He is the former chair of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, has served on the MSBA’s Board of Governors, and created the MSBA’s One Bar | One Community Public Service Project. Siri has received the Edward Shea Jr. Professionalism Award and the Alex Fee Pro Bono Award. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law.

Cynthia M. Weisz has joined Franklin & Prokopik in Baltimore as an associate concentrating her civil litigation practice in the area of general liability defense after studying and working in Florida.

Jane C. Luxton, a partner with Pepper Hamilton, has been appointed chair of the firm’s sustainability, clean tech and climate change team, which helps businesses and individuals respond to new regulatory mandates and “green” initiatives. Luxton’s experience includes federal and state environmental laws as well as international environmental regimes. Before joining the firm, she was general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For her work at NOAA, Luxton twice received the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award; in previous government service she received the U.S. Attorney General’s Award for complex litigation. Pepper Hamilton is a multi-practice firm with offices in seven states and the District of Columbia.

William B. Schultz, a partner with Zuckerman Spaeder and head of its food and drug practice, has been named one of 10 “Champions” recognized for public service, pro bono efforts, and advocacy by the National Law Journal. Schultz was recognized for his role in the passage of last year’s Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. He started working on the issue of tobacco regulation in 1994 as counsel to the House Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment. Schultz continued that work as deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration and as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department’s Civil Division. His commitment to advocate for more stringent regulation continued when he joined Zuckerman Spaeder in 2001, where he assists public health groups in educating congressional staff, analyzing related legal issues, drafting amendments, and negotiating the language and scope of the bill.

T. Sky Woodward, of the Baltimore office of Womble Carlyle, has been named a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America. She represents real estate and financial service industry clients in indoor environmental quality and commercial litigation; manufacturing clients in mass tort product liability and toxic tort cases and emerging environmental matters; and other businesses in environmental, land use, and commercial litigation matters.

Kevin Shepherd, co-chair of the real estate practice of Venable, of Baltimore, and chair of its finance group, recently received the Distinguished Maryland Real Property Practitioner Award from the Maryland State Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Planning and Zoning. He had served on the American Bar Association Task Force on Gatekeeper Regulation and the Profession and the Standing Committee on Publishing Oversight. Shepherd is president of the American Academy of Real Estate Lawyers.

Mark F. Scurti, of Hodes, Pessin & Katz, of Towson, recently received the Belsky Award from the Maryland State Bar Association Consumer Bankruptcy Section for his support. Scurti received his law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law and holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Loyola College, Maryland.  He is a past president of the Bar Association of Baltimore City.

Priscilla Carroll, a partner in Bowie & Jensen’s transactional department, recently received the William J. Casey Award from the American Red Cross of Central Maryland for her service, which includes working as chair of the Red Cross board of directors nominating committee for the past two years. Carroll’s practice with Bowie & Jensen, of Towson, focuses on commercial real estate law. She previously was General Counsel to Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, and headed the real estate section of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, practicing commercial real estate and finance law there for more than 25 years.

Lawrence D. Coppel, a partner with Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, has been elected president of the board of Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, and Paul S. Sugar, a partner with OberKaler, has been elected treasurer. Susan T. Preston, a partner with Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann, was re-elected vice president and Fred S. Hecker, a partner with Miller & Hecker, was re-elected secretary. Tanya Axenson Macallair, Constellation Energy’s executive director of talent acquisition, was elected to the board for a three-year term.

Eight attorneys in Ballard Spahr’s Maryland offices have been listed as “Leaders in Their Field” in the 2010 edition of “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business”: Charles R. Moran for capital markets: REITs (Nationwide) and corporate/M&A; Douglas M. Fox for corporate/M&A; Morton P. Fisher Jr., Marci I. Gordon, Mark Pollak, Raymond G. Truitt and Roger D. Winston for real estate; and Jon M. Laria for real estate: land use. In addition, the firm’s real estate practice in Maryland received Chambers’ highest band ranking.

Three partners from the Baltimore office of Saul Ewing have received recognition for legal excellence and client service by “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.” They are Harriet E. Cooperman and Gary B. Eidelman for their labor and employment practices; and Charles O. Monk II for his bankruptcy litigation practice.

Gregg Bernstein and Martin S. Himeles Jr. of the Baltimore office of Zuckerman Spaeder have been recognized  by “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” for their work in Litigation: General Commercial Maryland.

Jay G. Cohen and Thomas L. Totten of the Baltimore office of Duane Morris have been recognized by “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business,” Cohen for his work in corporate/mergers and acquisitions, Totten for real estate.

Douglas M. Topolski, a partner in the labor and employment department of McGuireWoods, of Baltimore, has been named a Leading Lawyer by “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.”

Thirteen lawyers from the Baltimore office of DLA Piper have been recognized by “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.” They are: William David Chalk, Jason C. Harmon and Jay Smith, corporate/M&A; Neil Dilloff, Brett Ingerman, Robert J. Mathias and Charles P. Scheeler, litigation: general commercial; Guy E. Flynn, Richard E. Levine and John Machen, real estate; Mark Muedeking and Linda Marotta Thomas, employee benefits & executive compensation; and Russell H. Gardner, labor & employment.

Venable, which in Maryland has offices in Baltimore, Towson and Rockville, was recognized by “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” for its work in employee benefits and executive compensation, corporate M&A, health care, litigation and real estate. Attorneys mentioned include James Hanks, Sharon Kroupa, Paul Strain, Bryson Cook, Michael Baader, Thomas Washburne, Charles Morton, Anthony Rosso, Michael Pedone, Barbara Schlaff, Harry Atlas, Kenneth Hoffman, Thora Johnson, Constance Baker, Peter Parvis, Jeffrey Ayres, Todd Horn, Robert Ames, Ronald Taylor, James Gray, Russell Reno, Kevin Shepherd, James Wright, Roger Colaizzi, Jeffrey Knowles, Douglas McDonald and Richard Powers.

Three practice areas and nine partners in the Baltimore office of Hogan Lovells US have been recognized in the 2010 edition of “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.” They are: corporate/M&A, litigation: general commercial, healthcare, Mark Gately, Stephen Immelt, Henry Kahn, Michael Silver, Steve Barley, Glenn Campbell, Stephen Immelt, Walter “Duke” Lohr Jr., Brian Chappell and Lauren Colton.