Law movers – 4/16/12: E. Scott Johnson wins arts award

E. Scott Johnson wins arts award

E. Scott Johnson, chair of Ober|Kaler’s intellectual property group, has been awarded the 2012 Golden Formstone Award from the Creative Alliance in recognition of more than 25 years of leadership in the arts community, including his service as the immediate past chair of the Maryland State Arts Council. A former musician and record producer, Johnson is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammys). Johnson also co-founded and serves as chair of the Maryland Film Industry Coalition, which helped bring about legislation to bring television and film productions to the state. He serves on the boards of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and Young Audiences of Maryland.

E. Scott Johnson

Education:

University of Maryland, Georgetown University Law Center

Resides in:

Canton

Recently saw:

Carl Grubbs Jazz Ensemble/Peter Minkler String Ensemble performing Grubbs’s new arrangement of Inner Harbor Suite: Live at the BMA

Plays:

Piano, organ, other keyboard — less so in recent years

Favorite music:

“Too many favorites … listening to steady diet of 70s post-bop jazz and fusion: Weather Report, Joe Farrell, Kenny Barron, Cecil McBee, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock. On vinyl (you know, ‘records’).”

Movies that spring to mind:

Barry Levinson’s Baltimore films, especially Avalon. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing for the time capsule and characters. The Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? for introducing a new generation to American traditional music.

Favorite foods:

“I’m a big fan of breakfast foods (especially pancakes); almost every meal could use some cornbread; and a milkshake completes a hamburger.”

Favorite quotations:

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

— Hunter S. Thompson

__________________________

Sheela Murthy, president and founder of the Murthy Law Firm, an immigration law firm, has been invited for reappointment to the peer review committee of the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission. The appointment is for a term of two years. The commission oversees the discipline of Maryland lawyers and also seeks to prevent the unauthorized practice of law.

Joyce A. Kuhns, a partner in the Baltimore office of Saul Ewing’s bankruptcy and restructuring practice, has been selected to serve as co-chair of the newly reactivated and renamed Greater Maryland chapter of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation. IWIRC is an international organization dedicated to supporting and promoting women professionals in the insolvency and restructuring professions worldwide. Members of the Greater Maryland Network will encompass lawyers, accountants, lenders, judges, financial advisors, liquidators and others. Kuhns will co-chair the chapter with Linda V. Donhauser, a partner with Miles & Stockbridge P.C. The group will host its first event in May.

Catherine W. Steiner, a member of Hodes, Pessin & Katz, P.A., has become a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a distinction extended only to experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Fellows must have a minimum of fifteen years’ trial experience, and membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state. Steiner has been practicing in Baltimore for 21 years and has extensive trial experience in the defense of medical malpractice and personal injury claims. She also represents health care providers in disciplinary proceedings before state administrative agencies of the State of Maryland. A 1991 graduate of the College of William and Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Ms. Steiner holds an undergraduate degree from Tufts University.

Byron L. Warnken, a law professor at the University of Baltimore for 35 years, is the 2012 recipient of the Robert C. Heeney Award, a lifetime achievement award within Maryland’s criminal law community. One recipient is selected annually by the Maryland State Bar Association Criminal Law & Practice Section, consisting of judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel. Warnken is only the second academic to receive the award in its 31-year history. Warnken plans to publish a 1,200-page treatise on Maryland Criminal Procedure in 2013. He has handled more than 200 appeals, including eight cases in the Supreme Court. The award dinner is scheduled for Thursday, May 31 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Martin’s West, off Beltway exit 16.

Michelle M. Harner, co-director of the business law program at the University of Maryland, Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore is one of 19 new members elected to the Council of the American Law Institute, whose members include eminent judges, practicing lawyers and law professors from the United States and abroad. The institute drafts, discusses, revises and publishes restatements of the law, model codes and principles of law that influence both courts and legislatures, as well as legal scholarship and education Its total membership currently stands at 4,317.

Michael Baader, partner-in-charge of the Baltimore office of Venable LLP, has been named chair of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore’s board of directors. A corporate attorney who has been active in the Baltimore business community for 25 years, Baader served as chair of the corporate transactions group at Venable for seven years. He replaces former EAGB board chair Ed Brake and says the board will continue to concentrate on promoting regional business growth by producing timely research and supporting the companies and leaders who make up the local business community.