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High court Chief Judge Bell hears final oral arguments
Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, his coming July 6 retirement constitutionally mandated, presided over his final oral argument session Tuesday as head of the Maryland Judiciary and its top tribunal.
Joe Surkiewicz: EJC marks Civiletti’s lifetime of achievement
The Equal Justice Council, the fundraising arm of Maryland Legal Aid, awarded former U.S. Attorney General (and retired partner and past chair at Venable) Benjamin R. Civiletti its Lifetime Achievement Award at the EJC’s annual managing partners' breakfast in Baltimore last week.
MSBA attracts overflow crowd for Law Day
The Maryland State Bar Association and the American Bar Association advocated for increased court funding Monday during the MSBA’s annual Law Day conference. ABA President William T. Robinson III and Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell spoke at the event, each emphasizing the ABA’s chosen Law Day theme of “No Courts, No Justice, […]
Court of Appeals’ dismissals of cases after argument rose sharply in last 12 months
Twelve times in the past 12 months, the Maryland Court of Appeals has retroactively withdrawn its decision to consider an appeal after it had heard arguments in the case. That’s four times the number of similar withdrawals the state’s top court issued in each of the prior three years. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert […]
Editorial: Financial disclosure needs major overhaul
Maryland’s toothless, outdated financial disclosure law needs a major overhaul, and it needs it now. To begin with, our state is the only state that requires citizens to show up in person to view financial disclosure reports. This means that anyone from Accident to Ocean City must go to the office of the State Ethics […]
Home sale ratified despite faulty affidavits
Lawyers at Shapiro & Burson LLP repeatedly lied by signing each other’s names to foreclosure affidavits, but their actions did not alter the rights of the lender or the homeowners, a Baltimore County judge has ruled. Circuit Court Judge Susan Souder wrote in her Aug. 11 opinion that she did not believe monetary sanctions were […]
Justice delayed at Maryland Court of Appeals
Kevin C. Alston has been waiting longer than his five-year prison term for a decision from Maryland’s top court on whether his sentence for gun possession by a felon was illegal because it denied him the possibility of parole. Pluto was still a planet and the public launch of Twitter was still two months away […]
National Bar Association to meet in Baltimore
The nation’s largest association of black judges and lawyers will meet in Baltimore next week to discuss legal trends and to honor several luminaries of the bench and bar. About 1,500 people are expected to attend the National Bar Association’s 86th Annual Convention & Exhibits, which starts Sunday at the Hilton Baltimore and will feature […]
Court of Appeals orders retrial in 2004 drug case
If its unanimous decision Wednesday is any indication, Maryland’s top court had little doubt that Ramon Lopez deserves a new trial because the judge at his trial unconstitutionally allowed him to waive his right to counsel and defend himself on felony drug charges. Why, then, did it take the Court of Appeals more than 2-1/2 […]
Gov. O’Malley vetoes subpoena-copy bill
ANNAPOLIS – Gov. Martin O’Malley sided with Maryland’s top judge in vetoing legislation Wednesday that would have allowed attorneys to photocopy subpoena forms signed and sealed by circuit court clerks. In explaining his veto, O’Malley cited concerns that permitting attorneys to produce an unlimited number of valid summonses without court oversight could cause profound damage […]
