Damascus Lawyers

Randall S. Herriott is a founding member and partner at the firm of Reinstein, Glackin, Patterson & Herriott, LLC. Randy concentrates his practice in the area of Family Law. Mr. Herriott is well known for successfully representing clients in matters involving the issues of divorce, custody and visitation, child support, alimony, property distribution and domestic violence. In 2008, Mr. Herriott successfully litigated numerous cases involving parties who were seeking the legal and physical custody of their children. In his practice, Mr. Herriott has also successfully litigated several third-party custody actions, where non-parent relatives were granted custody of their minor child relatives. Mr....

Paul J. Reinstein is a partner at the firm of Reinstein, Glackin, Patterson & Herriott, LLC. Mr. Reinstein is widely recognized by his clients and peers as one of the premier domestic law attorneys in the Washington Metropolitan area. Mr. Reinstein has been named by publications including Washingtonian Magazine, Washington D.C. Super Lawyers, and the Washington Post, as one of the top family law practitioners in the Washington Metropolitan Area. In February, 2009, Mr. Reinstein was named one of the 88 top divorce lawyers in the entire Washington Metropolitan area. Most recently, Mr. Reinstein was named a one of...

Ashley Wilburn was born and raised in Hagerstown, Maryland and is a North Hagerstown High School alumnus. Ashley’s current practice emphasizes family law, including divorce, alimony, marital property distribution, child custody, child support, prenuptial and postnuptial (separation) agreements, enforcement and post-divorce matters, step-parent and private party adoptions, and child welfare. Her practice also includes estate planning, wills and trust, probate and estate administration, and commercial, contract and civil litigation. Ashley is also court-appointed to represent children in contested custody cases, and she has recently become a certified mediator. She looks forward to expanding her practice to...

Bio Mr. Houpt has lived in the region for the majority of his life graduating from James Buchanan High School. After a brief tenure in the U.S. Navy as a cryptologist Mr. Houpt received his bachelors degree from the University of Shippensburg. While involved in several successful business ventures Mr. Houpt completed his MBA from Frostburg University. Mr. Houpt received his Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore in 2015. Mr. Houpt holds a licence to practice law in the State of Maryland. Education BA, Shippensburg University, 1998 MBA, Frostburg University, 2007 Juris Doctor,University of Baltimore School of Law, 2015 Activities / Memberships American Bar Association Maryland State...

One of Maryland’s “Super Lawyers,” Paul Tolzman received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Loyola University Maryland and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law. He was admitted to practice before Maryland Courts in 1977. Mr. Tolzman is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, the Maryland Association for Justice, and the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Association. He has also been recognized as one of the country’s “Top 100 Trial Lawyers”, a “Top Lawyer in Maryland”, and in 2015,...

In an increasingly complex and specialized world, it is important to keep a specific focus. Our focus is the law involving estates and trusts. Within this practice area, however, we do it all: planning, administration, and litigation. We have over 30 years of experience advising individuals, families and closely held businesses on a variety of matters related to wealth accumulation, preservation and transfer. We prepare wills, trusts, powers of attorney, business planning documents, estate tax returns, and many other documents to address our clients’ estate planning and administration needs. We also litigate estate and trust matters and serve as the...

Matthew A.S. Esworthy is a partner in the Firmâs litigation department. He concentrates on general civil and criminal litigation, including white collar criminal defense, complex commercial litigation, securities litigation, partnership disputes, employment law, and appeals. In recognition of his accomplishments, Martindale-Hubbell awarded Mr. Esworthy its AV Peer-Review Rating, the highest rating available. Mr. Esworthy has achieved favorable results in a number of high profile cases. In recent years, he has successfully defended a Baltimore law firm in a multi-million dollar defamation/invasion of privacy lawsuit brought by a public official; successfully represented minority shareholders of a Fortune 500 company in a complex...

For 35 years, Robert has specialized in insurance recovery on behalf of policyholders. As Chair of the Insurance Recovery group and a member of the firm’s Litigation practice, Robert litigates complex disputes against insurance companies on behalf of corporations seeking coverage for all manner of claims involving every form of risk and exposure such as those arising out of products, securities, directors & officers, energy, automotive, financial institutions, medical devices and health, among others.
Robert has successfully argued precedent-setting appeals in the second, third, and fourth U.S. Courts of Appeals, as well as the California Court of Appeal, San Francisco...

Jack Blum is an associate in the firm’s Litigation and Employment Law practice groups. He has gained significant experience in a wide range of litigation matters, including real estate, commercial, corporate, and complex estates and trusts cases in both trials and appeals. He has represented large publicly and privately traded companies, individuals, real estate developers, medical practices, and small businesses. He has also worked with business owners on transactional work, forming business entities and drafting and reviewing contracts and other legal issues arising from ongoing and contemplated business transactions. In the area of employment law, Jack has worked with employers...

Paula Calimafde chairs the firm’s Retirement Plans, Employee Benefits and Government Relations practice groups and is also a senior member of the Estate Planning, Tax and Nonprofit groups. She has more than 35 years of experience advising companies and tax-exempt organizations on qualified and non-qualified retirement plans and employee benefits, including non-qualified deferred compensation, welfare benefit and cafeteria plans. She is a nationally recognized leader in the field of creative retirement plan designs for businesses and works closely with management and owners to prepare retirement plans, which suit the particular corporate needs.
Paula’s practice encompasses sophisticated estate planning and advising individuals...

Glenn Cooper is the Chair of the firm’s Litigation practice and senior partner in our Family Law practice. He frequently appears before federal and state courts at both the trial and appellate levels, and before arbitration panels and professional disciplinary boards. No matter whether he is litigating a matter of a business or domestic nature, Glenn aggressively defends his clients’ positions and pursues their desired outcomes. The majority of Glenn Cooper's practice is devoted to complex business, financial, commercial and domestic litigation involving significant business issues.
A number of Glenn's cases have helped shape the current state of the law in...

Hope is Co-Chair of the firm’s Employment Law practice. For more than 30 years she has represented a variety of businesses, trade associations, and non-profit organizations in all areas of employment law, including age, gender, race, and disability discrimination; sexual and other harassment; wage and hour matters; and non- competition disputes.
Hope thoroughly familiarizes herself with her clients’ businesses, their goals and needs, and then works with them to craft solutions to meet those needs. She works with companies to develop regulatory-sensitive employment policies for recruitment, selection, promotion, discipline, and termination of employees, and evaluates and advises clients with regard to...

Wayne Eig refers to himself as a business and tax lawyer for individuals and closely held entities, providing advice to clients involved in various business, investment, financial and succession planning activities. Sometimes, his clients are individuals or families, sometimes entities and often a combination of individuals/families and affiliated entities working together. Sometimes, these businesses have great value, sometimes they do not – but all of these clients have needs which require legal attention.
Over the course of his career, Wayne has chaired some of the firm’s major practice groups – Estate & Trust Administration, Estate Planning, Tax, and Corporate. In forty...

For more than 30 years Dan Hodin has advised businesses and individuals in commercial and residential real estate and loan transactions, including acquiring, financing, developing, owning, leasing, managing and selling real estate. Co-chair of the firm’s Real Estate practice, he has represented local, national and international real estate developers, builders, owners, and office and retail tenants in conjunction with prominent real estate projects including hotels, office buildings, condominiums, apartment complexes and shopping centers located throughout the United States.
Dan knows that responsiveness and organization in the fast-paced world of real estate are key to keeping clients satisfied. He instills confidence in...

Jeffrey Kolender chairs the firm’s Estate Planning and Estate & Trust Administration practice groups. He concentrates primarily in those areas and also advises small businesses in tax business planning. Jeffrey recognizes that each client is different and enjoys the challenge of creating a plan that accomplishes the client’s unique goals. He advises clients about adequately providing for their family, including saving taxes, creating trusts for children, planning for disability, and the special planning issues involved in second marriages and same-sex marriages.
He understands that estate planning can be a complex and emotional process for clients. Jeffrey always takes the time to...

Alan Mark is a Co-Chair of the firm’s Real Estate and Chair of the Financial Services practice groups. He is also a senior member of the Corporate group. For more than 40 years, Alan has concentrated on corporate, commercial and real estate finance matters. He has served as outside counsel to numerous local, regional and national financial institutions, publicly traded biotechnology companies and hotel owners and operators. He has also served as outside counsel to information and telecommunication technology clients, government entities and individuals in connection with technology transfers, business acquisitions, project development and equity and debt financings. Since 1996,...

Paul Marcotte, Jr. Chairs the firm’s Tax practice group and is a member of its Estate Planning, Estate & Trust Administration and Nonprofit groups. He concentrates his practice on federal, state and international tax matters (both planning and controversy), estate and wealth preservation planning, probate and trust administration, nonprofit organizations, and business counseling and succession planning. Paul helps his clients by putting complicated tax issues into simple English. He makes sure that the individuals, businesses and international clients he services have help navigating our complex tax systems and avoid potential minefields such as increased levels taxation and/or penalties.
Paul’s international...

Roy Niedermayer is a member of the firm’s Litigation, Appellate Practice and Government Contracts practice areas. He excels in risk management - he identifies and assesses risk in each of his cases and then discusses alternative strategies in light of probabilities of outcomes to determine what the best cost-benefit course of action is. He may create decision tree analyses, determining what factors affect risk, how to reduce risk, and assigns probability of success. When first meeting with a client, Roy finds out what the client is hoping to achieve and what their goals are - in doing this he understands...

David Shapiro is the Chair of Paley Rothman's Health Law practice group, and a member of the firm's Corporate, Science & Technology, Employment Law and Government Contracts practice groups. David has an extensive background representing business entities, healthcare providers, surgical centers, professional service vendors and entrepreneurs in a broad range of general business, commercial, regulatory and complex transactional matters, including early-stage business planning, business management and operations, equity and asset transfers, inter- and intra-business contract relationships, mergers and acquisitions and collaborative and adversarial business owner and proxy dispute resolutions.
David’s business practice focuses on full life-cycle representation for emerging and established...

Ryan Spiegel chairs the firm’s Government Contracts practice and is a member of its Litigation, Corporate, and Science & Technology practice groups. His work spans a wide range of industries, includes general business and risk management counseling, and is characterized by outstanding client service, effective case strategy, and creative legal arguments. While he can be a tenacious litigator when necessary and maintains an excellent grasp of procedure, Ryan strives to understand his clients’ interests and goals and seek the best solution for them. He believes that resolving problems and disputes is more important than arguing for its own sake.
In recent...

Christy McFaul Saunders, a 1988 Graduate of the University of Maryland, began her career as a judicial law clerk in Baltimore and by 1990 was an Assistant State’s Attorney for Carroll County, serving the county for the next five years. In her role as ADA for Carroll County she tried a variety of cases to include DUI, child abuse, and homicide.

From 1995-1996, Christy served as the District Court Division Supervisor for Frederick County and was a member of the homicide team. In 1996, she joined Hickman, Ulsch & Honiker and quickly rose to partner in 1997 creating Ulsch, McFaul Saunders and...

Jessica Summers is an Associate in the firm’s Employee Benefits, Employment Law, Retirement Plans, Litigation and Government Relations practice groups. Jessica works with companies and organizations on a wide range of matters, including establishing and implementing effective employment policies, drafting employment agreements, maintaining employee benefit plans, addressing corporate planning issues and monitoring and advising clients on legislative and regulatory developments of import to them.
As an all-purpose business attorney with experience across several practice areas, Jessica has a comprehensive understanding of the legal and business needs of her clients and uses a common sense approach to finding solutions. In looking out...

Trish Weaver is Chair of the Appellate Practice group and a member of the Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Corporate practices. Over the past 20 years, she has handled numerous appeals, authored briefs and argued before the Maryland Court of Appeals, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She is admitted to, and awaits the chance to argue before, the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Paley Rothman, Trish clerked for the Honorable Howard S. Chasanow on the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Trish enjoys building ongoing relationships with her clients as their...

Nicole devotes her law practice exclusively to building and protecting families. When working with her clients, she takes an educational approach so her clients fully understand their options and the steps they should take to achieve their goals. She takes the time to listen to your concerns and answer any questions you may have. As a result, she has a better understanding of your situation and can respond effectively with practical and sensible solutions. Nicole's unique assisted reproduction/surrogacy program is designed to give both Intended Parents and Surrogate Mothers support and peace of mind from the moment they contact her office...

Advocate and adviser for government employees, business professionals, and businesses in a wide range of employment and civil litigation matters.

Civil Litigation:
- Represent individuals and businesses in various civil-litigation matters, including business litigation, contract disputes, partnership disputes, and insurance coverage.
- Represent licensed professionals in investigations, disciplinary proceedings, and appeals of adverse agency decisions regarding licensure.
- Experienced trial lawyer in state and federal court.
- Experienced appellate attorney in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, D.C. Court of Appeals, Maryland Court of Appeals, and Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
- Law clerk...

Bethesda family law attorney Brandon Bernstein provides cost-effective guidance for clients dealing with divorce, custody, property division, and related matters.

Rick Claxton, a member of the firm’s Litigation, Appellate and ADR practice groups, has over 30 years of courtroom experience representing clients ranging from individuals to Fortune 50 corporations. A veteran of dozens of jury and bench trials, Rick focuses his practice on complex business cases, such as corporate and partnership disputes, construction litigation, business torts, and employment litigation. However, Rick has always maintained a diverse practice, including cases ranging from copyright and trademark litigation to representation of individuals with major personal injury claims.
In addition to his trial work, Rick has substantial appellate court experience, having briefed and argued cases...

Ben Akech – Litigation Attorney, Advocate for Justice Ben Akech is a seasoned attorney committed to protecting the rights of individuals, families, and businesses across Maryland. With a diverse practice spanning tenant rights, consumer protection, and securities litigation, he brings a results-driven approach to every case. Drawing on years of courtroom and negotiation experience, Ben has developed a reputation for meticulous legal research, persuasive drafting, and strategic advocacy. He is known for taking the time to understand his clients’ unique challenges and crafting tailored legal strategies that put their needs first. In addition to his litigation practice, Ben advises on complex landlord-tenant disputes,...

I am a dedicated attorney with a focus on family law, guardianship and elder law litigation. Known for my fierce advocacy, I am committed to ensuring that my clients achieve the most favorable outcomes in their legal matters. I approach sensitive family dynamics with understanding and patience, offering the support my clients need during challenging times. As a native of Baltimore, I deeply value family life and actively participate in community initiatives, reflecting my dedication to making a positive impact beyond the courtroom.

Visit PlaxenAdler.com to learn more about Maryland personal injury attorney Joshua Plaxen.

Sareesh Rawat is a Government Contracts Attorney licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. He has represented and provided counsel to domestic and multinational companies across various sectors, including information systems and technology, cybersecurity, defense, aerospace, manufacturing, logistics, and professional services. Sareesh's legal practice specializes in providing strategic outside counsel to contractors of all sizes. This support covers a comprehensive range of issues that arise throughout the procurement lifecycle, including bid protests, contract claims, and compliance with federal regulations related to contract formation and administration. Sareesh offers contractors guidance on small business and socioeconomic programs, teaming arrangements, joint...

Mr. Kelly has devoted his legal career to representing clients entangled in major disputes with the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”). He has represented businesses and individuals before the agency’s collection examination, and appeals divisions. Additionally, Mr. Kelly represents clients that are the targets of criminal tax investigations. With over two hundred appearances in various federal courts, tax litigation is a significant part of Mr. Kelly’s practice. He has also argued before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Kelly began his professional career with the IRS in 1991, where he was assigned to field offices in the...

After receiving a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, I decided to pursue a career as an attorney, earning my law degree from the University of Buffalo Law School in New York.

In 1992, I became a member of the Maryland Bar, and in 1993, the District of Columbia Bar. Not long after that, I opened my first office at 8630 Fenton Street in Silver Spring, Maryland.

I currently serve as a sole practitioner focusing on the following areas of law: Bankruptcy, Social Security Disability, Auto Accidents, and Workers' Compensation. I have offices in Silver Spring, Columbia, Baltimore, and...