Recent Articles from Commentary:
Online tracking technologies and HIPAA
In December 2022, the Office of Civil Rights issued a bulletin warning Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-covered entities, which are basically health care providers and carriers, and their business associates, about the use of online tracking technologies that are often part of an entity’s website or mobile application. HIPAA is implicated when regulated entities […]
Why Trump allies should fear incarceration
Few Americans have given much thought to prisons and jails. Despite incarcerating the second-largest number of its citizens in the world, jails and prisons are primarily an out-of-sight, out-of-mind phenomenon. The spat of high-profile Donald Trump allies facing indictments brings prisons and jails back into our awareness. Defendants in the Georgia RICO case should do anything and everything t[...]
Prioritize patients over price controls
Maryland is a national leader in medical innovation and is at the forefront of discovering new treatments and cures for many chronic and rare illnesses, including HIV, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and more. Patients with rare and chronic diseases like my daughter, Grace, are depending on our nation’s longstanding commitment to meet unmet patient needs and […]
SBA loans explained: 5 questions to consider
Small business owners have had to navigate several challenges in recent months. Consumers are feeling the pinch of inflation, and lenders are becoming more selective as interest rates have increased. All this is making capital more difficult to attain – and leaving some entrepreneurs to wonder if a U.S. Small Business Administration loan is right […]
The reality of jail conditions and jail deaths
The family of Samuel Lawrence, one of 10 people to die in Georgia’s Fulton County Jail in 2023, is fighting for answers and accountability. “I got to think about him every day of my life and I don’t know when the pain stops,” Lawrence’s father, Frank Richardson, told a local TV station in October 2023. […]
Proven, data-driven client acquisition tools
What used to be tried-and-true client acquisition methods are no longer reliable in today’s digital world. Word-of-mouth referrals alone no longer suffice. In 2023, traditional approaches are complemented — and often overshadowed — by a variety of online client acquisition channels, including online search, social media, and paid online ads. The right mix of digital […]
Maryland can fix its anti-jobs bias
Maryland is a state known to be friendly to highly educated, white-collar, government employees. But as that reputation has solidified in recent decades, so has the state’s unfriendliness to the businesses that hire most people in the state. It is time that changed. The state’s political leaders on both sides seem to implicitly understand the […]
The value of little-used MSBCA procedures
On Oct. 2, the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals issued a somewhat rare one-member opinion pursuant to procedures for “small claims” set forth in COMAR. On facts stipulated by the parties (as required by the expedited procedures), board member Lawrence F. Kreis, Jr., held that the contractor, E&R Services, Inc., could not recover for […]
Conflicts in a lawyer’s own interests, testimony
Nearly every lawyer I know answers yes to one of these questions: Do you serve on the board of a corporation, NGO, a nonprofit entity or religious organization? Has a transaction in which you’ve served as counsel become the subject of litigation? Has a client of yours been involved in litigation arising out of some […]
Noting the importance of pro bono legal work
In celebration of National Pro Bono Week from October 22-28, 2023, it is important to reflect upon what John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States stated: “justice is indiscriminately due to all without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank.”
Someday your boss could help you save for emergencies
Employers are creating emergency savings options that could encourage workers to save more and avoid raiding their retirement funds.
Changes to Maryland’s corporate and business laws
The Maryland General Assembly regularly updates the laws governing corporations and other business entities formed in Maryland.