Towson litigation firm partners join Womble Bond Dickinson

In response to client needs for broader legal services and a larger geographic reach, two former partners from Towson-based Treanor Pope & Hughes have joined Womble Bond Dickinson’s Baltimore office.

Virginia Barnhart and Russell Pope joined Womble Bond Dickinson US LLP as partners on Monday, leaving their suburban firm for an office in downtown Baltimore.

Treanor Pope’s four-lawyer office closed Monday.

“Over the years, we have been approached by a number of firms about potential mergers. That often happens when you’re a small firm doing the nature of the work we do,” Barnhart said Wednesday.

“It wasn’t until Womble came into the picture that we felt a fit with lawyers,” she added, pointing to Womble Bond Dickinson’s “service-oriented” approach.

Barnhart and Pope each have more than 35 years of litigation experience and represent Fortune 100 companies and large local businesses. All of their clients are moving with them to Womble Bond Dickinson, and all but three of Treanor Pope’s former clients have also moved over.

“The nature of the clients that we represent needed a firm of significant size,” Barnhart said.

Treanor Pope officially closed Monday.

As of Jan. 1, Womble Bond Dickinson has 17 lawyers in Maryland and 1,000 lawyers overall. The firm has 15 offices in the United States and eight offices in the United Kingdom.

Two other partners and two associates from the former Treaner Pope & Hughes have taken other jobs, Pope said.

“There was not any consternation or animosity at all. Each individual made their own choice,” he said.

Barnhart, a former county attorney for Baltimore County, has worked with national banks, lenders and servicers in consumer financial litigation and consumer protection claims. She also handles construction and government contract disputes, as well as employment and civil rights cases on behalf of individuals and businesses before administrative agencies and in state and federal courts.

Pope represents clients in class-action, banking, commercial, corporate and environmental litigation. Before joining Treanor Pope in 1992, he helped form the in-house litigation group at Maryland National Bank and represented the bank in a range of state and federal cases.

“Ginny and Russ are highly respected in Baltimore’s legal community, and commercial litigation is a long-time focus of Womble Bond Dickinson,” said Womble Bond Dickinson Baltimore office managing partner David Hamilton in a statement. “They are a natural fit for the firm, and we feel they will greatly benefit our litigation clients.”