Baltimore’s “Warrior Lawyer” is waging battle a little farther south down I-95.

J. Wyndal Gordon, the “Warrior Lawyer,” unleashed an attack on Washington, D.C., Councilman Michael Brown in a post on Facebook this week.

“I never was much into D.C. politics, but I do know a Rat when I smell one,” the post begins.

Gordon is representing Brown’s former campaign manager, Hakim Sutton. Brown fired Sutton after discovering campaign funds were missing. Gordon wrote the post after Brown held a news conference announcing the $114,000 in missing campaign money.

Gordon went on to accuse Brown of “skulduggery and debauchery,” saying Brown failed to properly pay employees and hinted that Brown himself had taken the missing money.

“It is due to his own laziness, arrogance, narcissism and greed that Brown finds himself in the position he’s in today [with little money], — not some false claim of theft as he would have the public to wholesale believe,” Gordon wrote in the post.

Asked: Our weekly question to the In-House community

The deputy general counsel at Verizon Wireless is taking the reverse commute and moving to a job at a law firm after spending 24 years in-house. John Thorne started at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel PLLC in Washington, D.C., this week.

Thorne was involved in a lot of high-profile antitrust cases while he was with Verizon and said he chose to take the job at the law firm because wanted “to do new things.”

So, here’s our question for you:

What are the top reasons an in-house attorney would move out-of-house when many do the opposite — move in-house after many years at a law firm?

Leave a comment below or email me.

Need to Know:

• The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a new general counsel.
• The saga continuzes at Penn State this week as the former president blames the former general counsel in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
• The Green Bay Packers hope to score a professional touchdown for the team in naming a new general counsel/vice president.
• The general counsel at Avon Products Inc. is headed to Kraft Foods.
• Find out who are the best-paid general counsels around the country.
• To get more in-house counsel news, sign up for our FREE monthly email newsletter, In-House Counsel. The newsletter is a compilation of The Daily Record’s coverage of in-house counsel news as well as job listings, movements within the industry and other resources. Click here to sign up today.
• Follow us on Twitter for the In-House news and discussion: @TDRInHouse
• Want the latest on who’s been hired, fired or moving and shaking in between? Head to our Movers and Shakers page to find out.
• For networking events and other happenings this week in Maryland, check out our calendar of events.
• Get the very latest updates from our law reporters on Twitter: @TDRKristi, @BenMook, @Steve_Lash
• Check out The Daily Record on Facebook.

A Washington, D.C, lawyer has chosen vino over verdicts.

The Washington Post reports Elizabeth Banker, part-owner of law firm ZwillGen PLLC in the District, has decided to quit the law and go into the wine business. Banker is opening a wine bar on Wisconsin Avenue in mid-August.

Banker has put about $600,000 into Slate Wine Bar, $450,000 of which was her own. Much of the rest of the money came from other lawyers.

The restaurant will serve some food but will concentrate on wine, a menu Banker prepared for by traveling to wineries around the world for two years.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Dear Judge Avery, Judge Smith, Judge Barber, readers who have posted comments and those of you who have not written yet:

We were wrong and we are sorry.

It was never our intent to trivialize the accomplishments of women judges, and yet we did just that — and we did it at the speed of light and the Internet. We published a blog post that, while well-intentioned, contained an image and content that was insulting and demeaning. That offensive material has now been removed.

As publisher of The Daily Record, I personally assure you that we respect Maryland’s female judges. We elevate and celebrate the accomplishments and perseverance of successful women in all fields through our content, our events in general and our Top 100 Women and Leading Women programs in particular, as well as their related scholarship, networking and mentoring programs.

If there is an upside to this humbling lapse in judgment, it is the dialogue I have had with several of you, and the renewed energy and commitment it has given us to recognize the resolve, persistence and achievements of women in Maryland.

Once again, our apologies.

Suzanne Fischer-Huettner

***

The number of female judges in the United States continues to rise.

About 27.1 percent of federal and state judges are female, up from 26.6 percent in 2011 and 26 percent in 2010, according to a new study by the University at Albany Center For Women in Government & Civil Society.

In Maryland, women made up 33.7 percent of all total state and federal judges. Breaking the numbers down, 34.4 percent of Maryland’s state judges and 26.7 percent of its federal judges are women.

Maryland has the sixth highest percentage of women judges overall. Montana leads the country with 40.3 percent; Washington, D.C., is fourth at 37.2 percent.

Other findings from the study: women make up a total of 27.5 percent of state judges around the country; and the Northwest had the highest percentage of women judges at the state and federal level, at 30.4 percent.

It was the best times and the worst of times in the law blog round-up this Monday. Though, it was mostly just the worst of times if you are a current or incoming law school student – or if you are Jerry Sandusky.

– The U.S. Attorney from Maryland has been tapped to investigate the national security leaks the country has been abuzz about since last week. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. named Rod J. Rosenstein and his counterpart in Washington, D.C.,Ronald C. Machen Jr., to head the investigation committee.

– Things aren’t looking good for a Boston criminal defense attorney found guilty on seven counts of money laundering.

– Attorneys made opening statements this morning in the trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys.

– At least ten law schools around the country are cutting enrollment numbers this fall.

– And in case that was not discouraging enough, job numbers for the law school Class of 2012 are at an 18-year low.

– In brighter news, at least you weren’t these girls caught unawares (and unclothed) at University of Maryland, College Park this weekend.

Lawyers across the country have been talking about New York’s new mandate requiring those seeking to join the bar to complete 50 hours of pro bono work.

New York will be the first state to institute such a requirement, which will take effect starting next year. New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman announced the requirement May 1.

Since then, lawyers have been discussing the pros and cons of the rule. Some say it won’t do anything to help needy clients and unnecessarily burden incoming lawyers. Others contend it will turn new lawyers on to pro bono service.

Bloomberg BNA asked lawyers around the country what they think.

Ben Trachtenberg, professor at the University of Missouri School of Law: “While I completely appreciate the motive behind Chief Judge Lippman’s plan, and there’s a tremendous access to justice problem, I don’t think this is a particularly effective or fair way to solve the problem.”

Michael Millemann, professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law: Chief Judge Lippman’s decision to require 50 hours of pro bono service for admission to the bar is a good step in the right direction.”

Robert N. Weiner, partner, Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C.: “The issue is whether there will be enough resources to ensure that the people doing the pro bono are getting supervised, and getting to represent the right clients, and actually serving their clients The existing infrastructure will need to be supplemented dramatically to have the capacity to accommodate all this pro bono service.”

Questions remain about the implementation and organization of the requirement (some lawyers even want to extend the rule to existing lawyers) and the New York State Bar Association has created a task force to address the issue. What impact New York’s move will have on other states also remains to be seen.

Do you think Maryland should make pro bono work a prerequisite for admission to the bar?

The George Washington University Law School is the latest to drop its enrollment as fewer people applied to law school for the upcoming academic year.

GW Law plans to keep its enrollment below 450, compared to this year’s class of 474, the National Law Journal reports.

Law schools across the country are grappling with upcoming fall enrollment in the face of the declining number of people taking the LSAT and even fewer applying to law school.

The University of California Hastings College of the Law announced this year that it also plans to decrease enrollment. Albany Law School, Creighton University School of Law and Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center also reduced class sizes during the 2011-2012 school year.

GW Law saw its number of applicants fall 15 percent, Law Dean Paul Schiff Berman told the Journal. It will lose some tuition revenue but plans to recoup it in increased fundraising and introducing new programs for students outside the law school, Berman said.

Baltimore schools are experiencing the similar problems. The University of Baltimore School of Law told The Daily Record  in March that its applicant numbers were down 17 percent this admissions cycle, but University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law officials were less concerned.

Hello there, readers. Here’s hoping you’ve gotten your taxes in or plan to do it by tonight.

• The working relationship between two Lululemon shop employees was good before one allegedly killed the other.
• New York courts plan to lay off 400 to 500 people.
• D.C.’s medical marijuana regulations are now in effect.
• It’s all about who you know. Page Croyder looks at influence in the courtroom.
• What does the state’s new Padilla rule really mean?
• Barry Bonds’ appeal will probably focus on strange verdict.
• Romanced by a client.
• A federal judge has sanctioned administrators at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep Country Day School for covering up sexual misconduct by a former football coach who has since died.

Brackets, shmackets — Give me a good half-court shot with five figures on the line any day. From Georgetown Law comes this video of student Aladdin Jaloudi sinking it during Home Court 24, the annual fundraiser that pits Georgetown law professors against members of Congress. Final score: Hoya Lawyas 49, Hill’s Angels 61, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless $415,000,  and Jaloudi, $10,000.

Not bad, for a second-year.

HT: Former Daily Record-er Richard Simon, now the web editor at GULC.

It’s Monday and we’re back at it again. Before we get to the law links, here’s a little law love for The Daily Record’s business news. Development reporter Melody Simmons and freelancer Joan Jacobson really hit it out of the park with their first piece in a five-day series on what’s going on with the massive redevelopment project in East Baltimore. Do check it out. The numbers alone are staggering.

Without further adieu…

• A local lawyer is refusing to overreact to President Obama’s new “parameters” for medical malpractice reform.
• Baltimore community tracks local court cases of defendants accused of crimes in the neighborhood.
• Recalling the life of the Baltimore County Bar Association’s most famous — and infamous — member, Spiro Agnew.
• Despite promises to cut lobbyists out of the picture in Washington, the government is becoming more entangled with special interests. Forbes blogger Avik Roy says that’s because the more government gets involved with the private sector, the more businesses need lobbyists to protect their interests.
• Page Croyder talks the de novo appeal.
• A Texas lawyer can sue her local newspaper for libelous claims that she skimmed 10 percent off the top of an Indian tribe’s casino.
• Tennessee grapples with the possibility of judicial elections.