On the Record

If you have a few minutes to invest (OK, maybe 20 minutes), I’d suggest reading Philadelphia magazine’s story about the fall of one of that city’s major firms, Wolf Block, earlier this year. It’s a fascinating, well-reported read, particularly for its description of “a 10-year period from 1985 to 1995 when a ‘Troika’ of three arrogant men took [the firm] over and then ran it into the ground, sparking a mass defection of the firm’s best partners.” The author doesn’t lay all of the blame for Wolf Block’s demise at the Troika’s feet, but he does argue that they badly damaged the firm.

And the story provides a detail which I guess is well-known in the Philadelphia legal community but was news to me. The piece mentions briefly that former Wolf Block partner Arthur Makadon, who leads Ballard Spahr, was so angry at the way the Troika had treated another former Wolf Block lawyer, Alan Davis, that, during his eulogy at Davis’s funeral, he made a couple of nasty comments about two of the Troika. A Philly mag story from that time says that Makadon didn’t name them, but did later confirm about whom he was speaking. According to the story, “When the rant was over, he looked skyward and said, ‘That’s one mission accomplished, Alan.’”

To what extent have tyrannical law firm leaders in Baltimore been responsible for the decline or fall of their firms?

HT: WSJ Law Blog.

In its Question of the Week feature, The ABA Journal is asking lawyers whether, given a “do-over,” they would still choose law school.

As I write, about half of the commenters are saying no. We’re curious about whether Maryland lawyers would make the same career choice if they had to do it all over again.

What say you, readers?

If you could get a “do-over”, would you go to law school again?(surveys)

We’ve been following the story of Elizabeth Gilchrest for several months now. Gilchrest is the woman who accused her father, David Smith, of sexually abusing her when she was a child. The case ultimately led to a major change in Maryland’s sex offender registry law. (We don’t usually disclose the names of sex abuse victims, but Elizabeth has spoken publicly about the abuse and has indicated that The Daily Record may publish her name.)

Now, WBAL is reporting that Elizabeth’s mother, Helen Smith, could lose her job as pastor of a Methodist church in Boonsboro because she did not fully and promptly disclose her husband’s guilty plea to the church. According to the report, David Smith has worked in the church’s music ministry, though not with children.

The United Methodist Church has a “Safe Sanctuaries” policy that requires pastors to report information about anyone in the congregation convicted of a crime against a child. Helen Smith told the church about her husband’s conviction in December 2008, even though it happened in August 2008. She also allegedly gave a version that was inconsistent with court records, WBAL reports, although the station does not say what the inconsistency was.

The church will hold an administrative hearing about what will happen to Helen Smith’s job, according to WBAL.

On the cover: Into the Breach — Lawyers step up when veterans have trouble fighting for their rights.

In Breaking News, a federal jury awards $1 to a Calvert County man shot in the back by a sheriff; the Court of Special Appeals holds that testimony of a ballistics expert who committed suicide after his credentials were questioned was not enough to warrant a new trial; and Allegany County District Court Commissioner Marianne Zizza retires.

Read about a jury’s rejection of Mensa’s claim for damages and why a driver injured by an MTA mobility sedan won $100,000 in Verdicts and Settlements.

Legal Affairs Writer Danny Jacobs catches up with Leadership in Law 2005 award winner Cynthia L. Leppert in Profiles in Leadership.

In The Big Picture, Jack L.B. Gohn asks if we should impose heavier penalties on those who direct torture policies.

Joe Surkiewicz says it is time to jettison unjust, unethical bans on legal aid in his column Of Service.

Leviton Manufacturing writes about how it is disappointed with the decision to award attorney’s fees to Shanghai Meihao in its Letter to the Editor.

Stay up-to-date with our Legal Briefs and Law Digest, with cases from Maryland Court of Appeals and Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

Happy Tuesday and welcome back from a long weekend. Here are some links to get your week started:

• The Washington Post had this story over the weekend on increased threats to federal judges and prosecutors. Check out this 2005 story we ran on the problem in Maryland.
• We could see contested judicial elections in Anne Arundel County after O’Malley makes appointments to the circuit court bench.
• Don’t name law firm partners in potentially embarrassing blog posts, Ron Miller says; they’re not public figures.
• “In general, law schools rely on the intense competition among students to motivate them to report other cheaters and uphold their honor codes. But strong bonds among class members and a resistance to tattle can undercut that motivation.”
• Anyone who has sat through an appellate argument and then read the decision has, I’m sure, suspected this, but now a study has confirmed it: the more questions justices ask, the more likely you are to lose. (When I cover an argument and ask both sides afterward how they think it went, and whether the judges’ questions gave them any indication of how the court will rule, they typically say they don’t know. I always want to ask, “Really?”)

The courtyard in front of the Baltimore County Circuit Court in Towson has a new name: Patriot Plaza.

The plaza was formally dedicated Friday morning in honor of past and current members of the armed forces. County Executive Jim Smith also recognized members of the 29th Infantry Division who fought in the D-Day invasion 65 years ago.

Brig. Gen. James A. Adkins, adjutant general and secretary of state’s Department of Veterans Affairs, also spoke during the ceremony.

Tuesday, I wrote about the WWE/NBA scheduling conflict at the Pepsi Center in Denver, which was resolved in the short-term when the arena owners (who also own the Denver Nuggets) said basketball would be played there Monday night.

Now comes word that WWE’s Monday Night Raw will be held Memorial Day at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the L.A. Lakers — the Nuggets’ opponent in the Western Conference Finals. Wrestling will return to Denver in August.

Oh, but if only everyone could live happily ever after. The WWE has already begun referring to the incident as the “double-booking debacle,” and Chairman Vince McMahon has said he will make an apperance Monday in a match between the ”Nuggets” and “Lakers.” (I wonder who will win?)

The WWE and the Pepsi Center are also still bickering, though there is no word yet of a formal lawsuit. The arena claims the sides had a deal in place whereby the wrestling would go on as planned Sunday night in Denver, but then McMahon decided to go to Los Angeles without telling the arena owners, who called McMahon “a master of propaganda.” McMahon countered by saying the Pepsi Center tried to “strong-arm” his organization into an agreement and pointed out the show is called “Monday” Night Raw, not “Sunday” Night Raw.

The most delicious twist of all? The two events will air head-to-head Memorial Day evening. Should make for some enjoyable channel surfing.

Regular readers of The Daily Record may remember our coverage during the legislative session of a bill aimed at closing a “loophole” in Maryland’s sex-offender registry law. Sex offenders who committed their crimes before either 1995 or 1997, depending on the offense, but were not in prison or under supervision in 2001 were not required to register.

Key supporters of the bill to require these offenders to register were Elizabeth Gilchrest and her husband, Allen. Elizabeth’s father pleaded guilty last year to abusing her when she was a child. He avoided jail time and supervised probation but agreed to register as a sex offender. After the plea, his lawyer realized that because of the timing of the offense, he was not required to register; the issue of whether he will stay on the registry is still being litigated.

But Elizabeth’s lawyer, Cathy Chen of the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, said Elizabeth’s father will now be required to register anyway, since the governor signed the bill into law Tuesday. Allen Gilchrest e-mailed the following from his wife yesterday:

“My father said in court that he wanted to do whatever was best for me. I don’t feel this is true because I wanted him to register as a sex offender, but he fought to have that taken away, on a technicality in the law. He took advantage of me as a child, when I could not fight back. He was supposed to protect me, instead he harmed me. Today,  he tried to take advantage of the law, but now I am old enough to fight back. Now, thanks to the Maryland [legislature], he will be required to be a registered sex offender…”

The new law takes effect Oct. 1.

Evan Stolove’s memories of his 1995-1996 clerkship for Andre M. Davis extend beyond the courtroom and the U.S. district judge’s Baltimore chambers.

Stolove, then a new father and fledgling lawyer, remembers the times he drove his boss to work and the advice Davis gave him on those trips regarding fatherhood and the practice of law.

Stolove, who then lived about a half-mile from Davis in Ellicott City, also recalls that the tall jurist would take his seat in the 1990 Honda Civic hatchback without grunting or griping.

“He never complained,” Stolove siad. “He just climbed right in. His head was scraping the roof.”

Stolove, now an associate general counsel at Fannie Mae, said he was in the room with Davis last month as he appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing to become a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to recommend that the full Senate vote to confirm Davis to the appellate court.

If Davis wins confirmation, as expected, he might be in the market for an experienced attorney and law clerk to help guide him in is his first year on the 4th Circuit. Would Stolove, a husband and now father of two boys, want to clerk for Davis again?

“If [my family] could find a way to do it financially, of course,” Stolove said. “I would do it in a heartbeat.”

Which raises the question of whether any other ex-law clerks would return if asked by their former boss…

– Steve Lash

From Esquire (appropriately enough) comes this list of “Five Lawyer Ads That Make Any Supreme Court Candidate Look Brilliant.” It’s worth a watch if you need a quick laugh. Blogger Steven Yaccino writes:

Since the early ’80s, burnt-out men bordering on middle-aged while somehow maintaining fantastic hair have entertained viewers with cheap stunts, uncreative nicknames, and shameless fear mongering. I’m not talking about the WWE — those stunts are real — but personal-injury and divorce-court lawyers, whose low-budget commercials have escaped the local echo chamber for YouTube immortality (where they will continue to garner zero interest from clients).

I like the first guy best. Does he remind you a little of “Macho Man” Randy Savage?

People may roll their eyes at the lawyer ads that run in our market, but I don’t think any of them approach nearly this level of slea–er, entertainment. Then again, I don’t have cable, so maybe I’m missing something. Readers, are there any Maryland lawyer ads out there that make you cringe or giggle?

HT: Above the Law.