Baltimore lawyers trade briefs for bats in long-running softball league

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For several evenings each week from mid-May through August, a group of Maryland lawyers put aside motions, briefs and billable hours for something far less formal: slow-pitch softball.

In the Pikesville area, attorneys, law firm staff and law students gather on county fields to play in a long-running lawyers’ softball league that has brought together members of the region’s legal community for decades.

“It’s an awesome way for different people in these organizations to get to know each other in an informal setting,” Harry Rudo, a senior attorney with DLA Piper, said in an interview. He’s also the Baltimore Lawyers Softball League’s commissioner.

“We have cases with or against each other, so it’s a nice way to interact and share some fun times,” he continued.

The games also allow aspiring and younger lawyers to meet their future colleagues, he said.

The league dates back to the 1970s and has seen its membership ebb and flow over the years. Today, its 16 teams are composed of law firms and legal organizations. In past years, participation included as many as 24 teams.

Games are played once a week, typically Monday through Thursday evenings. The season consists of about 11 games, followed by playoffs for the top eight teams in the standings. This year’s season starts May 18. Playoffs begin the first week of August.

The league is open to new teams and individual players. Rudo said those interested in joining can contact him for more information ([email protected]).

Although the league is competitive — “After all, lawyers are competitive,” Rudo noted — its primary goal is social.

“This is not a league where we want people to come in who have worked out the past month to get ready for the season,” he said with a laugh. “This is a group of lawyers and other people in the legal realm that want to interact with each other in a casual way. It’s not a cutthroat or highly competitive league.”

The primary goal is to have a good time, meet other people in the legal field and stay safe, Rudo said.

To that end, some of the rules have been changed dramatically to prevent injuries, said Cliff Robinson, former in-house counsel for State Farm and before that a Baltimore County prosecutor. He said one player broke his foot playing, while a pitcher was hit in the head, causing a concussion.

Robinson, a founding member and player for the “Great Americans” softball team — a group made up largely of former prosecutors and other players from different organizations — said the rule changes are designed to reduce the risk of injury.

The league now uses a double first base to help runners avoid contact with the first baseman, and it has eliminated traditional plays at home plate. Instead, runners must touch a separate base positioned several feet away, preventing collisions with the catcher.

Still, teams want to win and take pride in winning. Rudo said last year’s champion, Nelson Mullins, displayed the league trophy in their reception area for several months.

Participation in the league is open to anyone working in the legal community, including attorneys and staff. Individuals who are not affiliated with a firm may join if they hold a Maryland law license.

There is no fee for spectators and no individual cost for players, though teams pay league dues to cover expenses.

The league is also co-recreational, and players range widely in age and experience. Some participants played baseball or softball in college, while others approach the game with a more casual skill set.

“You can tell the ones who played before,” Rudo said. “They clearly know what they’re doing.” He mentioned that one of the teams once had a center fielder who had played in college. “His throws coming in from center field to home were on another level.”

But the league also includes players who have grown up with the game over decades of participation. Some members now in their 50s and 60s began playing in their younger days and have remained part of the league for 20 or more years.

Jack McCann Jr., a principal with Miles & Stockbridge, has been part of the league for decades. He joined the firm’s team as a law clerk in 1989. After becoming an attorney in 1991, he continued playing, logging more than 30 years with the firm’s team.

His connection to the league, however, goes back even further.

As a child, McCann would watch his father, also a lawyer, play in the same league. “I remember being 8 or 9 years old and going out to watch my dad’s team play,” McCann said.

But eventually, McCann didn’t just watch his father’s team play. When he was in high school and college, his father arranged for McCann and his brother to do occasional office work, including clearing out and shredding old files. The work allowed them to be put on the firm’s payroll and become eligible to play on their father’s team.

These days, McCann pitches — a role he said is less physically demanding than other positions he has played but that keeps him in the game.

Robinson started playing in the league in 1982 as a law clerk for the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office. Robinson said that although he didn’t have the best GPA coming out of his first year of law school, everything changed during the job interview when he was asked what he did for fun and responded that he played softball in two different leagues.

Dana M. Levitz, who later became a judge, took over the interview and was more interested in the positions Robinson played and where he hit in the lineup than his grades in torts and contracts, he said.

Robinson added that for many years, when he saw a player in the league who wasn’t very good at softball, he would ask himself: How did they get the job?

In addition to regular games and playoffs, the league has experimented with special events, including an all-star game in which players from different teams can participate. The all-star game was a “great hit” last year and will become a tradition, Rudo said.

Another popular game is the matchup between the teams from the public defender’s office and the state’s attorney’s office. Organizers schedule a game between the organizations each year. “It’s a friendly rivalry,” Rudo said.

The league has occasionally expanded beyond Maryland, playing games against legal teams from other states, though those matchups have become less common in recent years.

Law students also participate. The University of Baltimore School of Law fields a team, giving aspiring attorneys a chance to meet lawyers who could soon become colleagues. Involvement in the lawyers’ league is, especially for younger attorneys, a great way to get to know other members of the bar, McCann said.

He described playing on a team as a bit of an antidote to living in a world where, more and more, things happen remotely. “So much of what we do is virtual,” McCann said.

When most communication happens via email and hearings and depositions are handled remotely, losing the personal connection is easy, McCann said. Meeting colleagues face-to-face on the softball field puts a “face to a name” and encourages civility and camaraderie.

“So I do think that as the practice of law becomes more and more virtual, activities like this are really important,” McCann said.