Two lawyers split from prominent MD trial firm to start Malarkey Perlin

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Personal injury trial lawyers Emily Malarkey and Ryan Perlin have left the firm formerly known as Bekman, Marder, Hopper, Malarkey & Perlin to form their own firm.

The two founding partners specialize in catastrophic injury, medical malpractice and other personal injury cases. Their clients include a “sizeable portion” of the more than 900 victims of child sexual abuse with claims in the Baltimore Archdiocese’s bankruptcy.

“We want to build a firm that practices in a very personal and streamlined way,” Perlin told The Daily Record.

Malarkey and Perlin, who were classmates at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and teammates on the school’s competitive trial team, had spent most of their careers at the firm. Malarkey was there for nearly 20 years, Perlin for nearly 15 years after a stint representing hospitals in med-mal cases.

Perlin said starting a new firm allows them to be “very selective with the cases we take,” allowing them to take fewer, more serious ones.

While it’s just the two of them for now, he said he expects the firm to grow, “probably sooner than later.”

Malarkey said it was the “right time” for the longtime friends to build a new firm given that they’re around the “midway point” of their careers.

“Our clients come to us in moments of crisis,” Malarkey stated in a press release. “They need not just skilled lawyers, but people who genuinely care. Our firm lives that philosophy.”

They will continue working with their former colleagues on hundreds of abuse cases.

Their former firm — which bore their names from 2021 until Friday — is now Bekman, Marder, Hopper, Moore & Quinn. The new named partners are Aaron Moore and Jeffrey Quinn, who have worked there since 2015 and 2013, respectively. The firm has one other lawyer, Aryeh Rabinowitz, who was promoted to partner.

Paul Bekman, the firm’s managing member, said he wished Perlin and Malarkey the best. In the cases they all remain involved in, Bekman said, “we will work together just like we would ordinarily do if they were here.”

He said the firm is in good shape despite their departure. He noted that he left a firm to co-found this one when he was 38.

“No hard feelings. They’re very fine lawyers,” he said. “These things happen.”

This story has been updated to reflect that Aryeh Rabinowitz was promoted to partner.