On the Move – Legal edition

Posted: 7:00 pm Sun, August 22, 2010
By Daily Record Staff

Sheela Murthy, founder and president of the Murthy Law Firm, of Owings Mills, on Aug. 18 received the 2010 Spirited Woman of Baltimore Award. Murthy’s firm does much of its work in immigration law, helping people from other countries qualify to work in the U.S. In 2008 Murthy received the Maryland International Leadership Award from the State of Maryland and World Trade Center Institute. In 2009 she received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award; this year she was recognized by the Maryland Chamber of Commerce with its Small Business of the Year Award.

Philip M. Andrews, managing principal of Kramon & Graham, of Baltimore, has been elected chair of the Maryland Food Bank. His practice is concentrated in business litigation, but also includes government contracts and procurement, intellectual property litigation, construction, environmental, employment, and various insurance and tort matters. Andrews is a member of the Litigation Section and the Public Contract Law Committee of the Maryland State Bar Association. He is also a member of the board of trustees for Center Stage; co-chair of the 2010 Law Firm Campaign of the Equal Justice Council of the Legal Aid Bureau; chair of the board of directors of the Maryland Film Industry Coalition; and a member of the board of directors of Business Volunteers Unlimited.

Network 2000, which promotes the advancement of women in the corporate world, has elected new officers, including three Baltimore attorneys: Vice President Diane D’Aiutolo, partner at Tydings and Rosenberg, whose areas of concentration are medical malpractice, products liability, contractual disputes and commercial litigation; Secretary Elise Morris, partner at Whiteford Taylor and Preston who specializes in business litigation; and Treasurer Harriet Cooperman, a partner at Saul Ewing and co-chair of its labor, employment and employee benefits practice group.

Alexander Nielsen has been appointed chief counsel for Grace Construction Products, an operating segment of W.R. Grace & Co., of Columbia, providing expertise and experience with Europe. Nielsen has served W.R. Grace as director of European legal services. Before that, he was legal counsel for IBM Central Holding GmbH, in Stuttgart, Germany. Nielsen began his career with the firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Frankfurt, Germany; his time there included several months assigned to a German energy company, tackling restructuring, M&A and general corporate work. His professional experience includes commercial agreements, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and general corporate and commercial law matters.

Michael Pedone, an associate at the Baltimore office of Venable, has been elected to the executive board of the Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Pedone focuses his practice on the design, negotiation and execution of complex transactions.

Paul A. Tiburzi, Baltimore managing partner at DLA Piper, has been elected to the board of trustees of Maryvale Preparatory School. He focuses his practice on public law, sports law, and administrative litigation matters. Tiburzi also serves on the board of directors of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

Jessica C.Y. Lee, supervising attorney at Murthy Law Firm, Owings Mills, has joined the president’s advisory council of Stevenson University. She previously worked for the legal departments of two multinational companies, managing and focusing on employment-based immigration cases, before joining a nonprofit organization to assist no- and low-income individuals with immigration matters.

Twenty-four Ober|Kaler lawyers in Maryland were selected for inclusion in the 2011 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America”: Kenneth B. Abel, corporate law, mergers & acquisitions law; Frank C. Bonaventure Jr. and Patrick K. Cameron, banking law;  Thomas W. Coons, health care law; Royal W. Craig, intellectual property, technology; James E. Edwards Jr.,  international arbitration; Donald C. Greenman, maritime; S. Craig Holden and Leonard C. Homer, health care; E. Scott Johnson, entertainment, intellectual property; Joseph C. Kovars, construction law; Matthew A. Mace, trusts and estates; Carol M. McCarthy, health care; Donald R. Mering, trusts and estates; John J. Miles, antitrust law; Alan J. Mogol, equipment finance; John F. Morkan III, international arbitration; Patrick K. O’Hare, health care, nonprofit/charities; Carlyle C. Ring Jr., information technology; Howard L. Sollins and Sanford V. Teplitzky, health care; Geoffrey S. Tobias, immigration, maritime; M. Hamilton Whitman Jr., alternative dispute resolution, international arbitration, maritime; and John Anthony Wolf, alternative dispute resolution, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, construction, international arbitration.

Four attorneys from the Baltimore office of Zuckerman Spaeder have been named in the 2011 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America”: Gregg L. Bernstein, white-collar criminal defense; Herbert Better, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense, alternative dispute resolution; Martin S. Himeles Jr., bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense; and Cy Smith, commercial litigation, legal malpractice law.