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Joseph Hovermill

Principal/President Emeritus
Miles & Stockbridge

After graduating from the University of Maryland Francis King Cary School of Law and a year as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court in Maryland, Joseph Hovermill went to work in 1994 as an associate  for Miles & Stockbridge.

He was made a principal in 2000, principal/president COO in 2015, principal/president and CEO in 2018 and in February, principal and president emeritus.

Hovermill’s entire career has been dedicated to helping the 91-year-old, Baltimore-based law firm maintain its reputation as one of the area’s most respected law firms.

His top career accomplishment, Hovermill said, has been assembling the team he built at Miles & Stockbridge, a team that he said has won clients “significant legal victories” in the last few years.

“When you have a corporate defense practice, your substantive practice accomplishments don’t always cry out ‘good for society’,” Hovermill said. “But the evolution of tort law that we were able to influence settled a significant uncertainty for manufacturers of many products all of us use every day.”

One case involving an EPA superfund site, he noted, resulted in a heavily contaminated site in a residential area getting cleaned up years sooner and far more cost effectively than what might have otherwise happened.

Hovermill’s work for his law firm has won widespread admiration.

“Joe’s dedication to the firm is a model for all of us, and I cannot thank him enough for the sacrifices he has made to serve the firm,”  said Nancy W. Greene, president and CEO of Miles & Stockbridge. “The firm is better for his leadership and I am a better leader because of him.”

His work outside the firm also has won him admirers, including F.T. Burden, chief executive officer of Springboard Community Services. As a member of the Baltimore nonprofit’s board of directors, Burden said, Hovermill helped design and implement a plan that helped the nonprofit win national accreditation, a state license as an outpatient mental health organization and profitability.

“When you have a corporate defense practice, your substantive practice accomplishments don’t always cry out ‘good for society.’ But the evolution of tort law that we were able to influence settled a significant uncertainty for manufacturers of many products all of us use every day.”