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The White Elephant in the Room
What is “whiteness”? Specifically, what is “whiteness” in America? Superficially, relatively pale European skin color (in its diversity) may be the result of the interplay between melanin, Vitamin D and folate/folic acid. Melanin impedes Vitamin D production, but aids the production/retention of folic acid, both of which affect human development even prenatally. Environments with little
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Please don’t drink and drive
There are two basic approaches for discouraging a motorist from drinking and driving, and likewise two basic strategies for avoiding committing drunk driving. The two basic approaches are DO NOT BE A SOCIOPATH and THE CONSEQUENCES CANÂ DAMAGE YOU EVEN IF YOU ARE LUCKY. The basic strategies for not drunk-driving are “do not drive” or “do
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Poor Advocacy Choices: “I am the [*******] lawyer”
Scene: Essex (“of course”, said every Baltimore area practitioner to her/himself), afternoon docket. I am there with my client, about whom I will make no comment. The Court heard a “not guilty agreed statement of facts” (tantamount in general to a guilty plea) for a woman (not my client) who was accused of drunk driving
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Friolo v. Frankel: 14 years of Maryland litigation and still going strong
Friolo sued Frankel under the Maryland wage payment and collection statute, and the rest has been 14 years of trial and appellate history, including the appointment of a special master and three trips to Maryland’s highest court. Â A lot of the fighting has dealt with attorneys’ fees, specifically the reasonableness of requested fee-shifting under Md.
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Disbarred for bad mouthing judges, prosecutors and public defenders
In February 2014, following oral argument in January, the Maryland Court of Appeals disbarred an attorney for emailing a number of attorneys, including long-time former Attorney Grievance Commission member George Meng, Esquire, defamatory claims of corruption regarding a number of judges and elected officials including the Attorney General. Â Opinion of Judge Greene in Attorney Grievance
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Annual St. Patrick’s Day Don’t Kill People Post
In 1997, a drunk driver killed my closest friend from law school, her brother, her sister-in-law and her infant niece in a one-crash accident in a residential neighborhood north of Miami right around “bar time.” The drunk driver fled the scene, having in no manner attempted to render aid to the wounded or even to
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Not every wrong act violates a black-letter ethics rule
Among the cardinal virtues promoted in Greek antiquity and classical Christianity are fortitude, prudence, temperance and justice. Prudence (originally, providentia, contracted to prudentia) is the wisdom and discipline to apply principles appropriately, reasonably and in proportion. Latin Christianity derived these terms from Plato through Cicero and the early Fathers of the Church; the English terms
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Gaudeamus igitur! A warm welcome to the Maryland Bar to Bennett S. Ostroff (UPDATED December 18, 2013)
Bennett S. Ostroff, Esquire is a friend, mentee and has as of today (December 18, 2013) become a professional colleague. Bennett has taken the Lawyers’ Oath and signed the Test Book bearing the signatures of many generations of admitted attorneys in this State. I take great pleasure in celebrating his triumph, as I still after 19
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Congratulations to “Rising Star” Dondi West
A heartfelt “Congratulations” to Columbia attorney, colleague and friend Dondi West, Esquire, upon his recognition as a “Rising Star” in the Maryland Bar by SuperLawyers.
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Sun Article on Breastfeeding in Maryland
Dana Silver, M.D. in the Baltimore Sun, August 20, 2013: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and breast-feeding for at least a year or longer as long as mutually desired by mother and baby. The AAP also states: “The decision to breastfeed is … a basic and critical health decision
