Sandy Spring Business Lawyers

I’m Stewart A. Sutton and I have been practicing law in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and California for over 30 years. I am a general practitioner, who helps individuals, families, employees, entrepreneurs, and small businesses solve their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary legal problems.

My areas of practice include: family law; business law; personal injury; civil rights; wills and trusts; legal malpractice, real estate litigation, and appeals. I limit my practice to representing no more than a dozen litigation clients at a time.

My philosophy is to provide the highest quality legal representation to a small number...

Unique and Unconventional For nearly thirty years, I've cultivated a rich and diverse legal career, beginning with a focus on securities law and corporate compliance for seventeen years. During this time, I honed my skills in navigating the complexities of financial regulations and transactions, ensuring compliance and protection for my corporate employers. Transitioning into a general practice for the subsequent thirteen years, I broadened my expertise across various legal domains, providing comprehensive counsel to individuals and businesses alike. However, it was in the last five years that I found my true passion and calling in estate planning. Devoting my energy solely to...

Jessica Bull Esq., is the founder and managing attorney of J Bull Consulting Firm LLC, which was founded to provide effective, high-quality legal counsel. She understands that clients often want close contact with their lawyer, and she is committed to providing a listening ear and consistent communication to her clients.

Bruce E. Matter practices intellectual property and technology law. Mr. Matter's practice is focused on transactions involving the exploitation of copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual properties primarily in the print and electronic publishing, software, and entertainment industries. He consults with clients on business issues, including focusing clients on their desired business objectives, the costs, and the business and legal risks involved in each transaction. He also advises on negotiation strategies and reviews and prepares legal documents associated with the transaction. Mr. Matter is licensed to practice in Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, Florida, and California. In addition to...

Benjamin Marcoux joined Houlon, Berman, Bergman, Finci, Levenstein & Skok, LLC in June of 2010. Prior to joining the firm, he worked with the Collaborative Law Group in Ellicott City, Maryland. He served clients in a variety of practice areas including: family, civil litigation, collaborative law, wills and probate, and personal injury. Ben has appeared before judges and masters in Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Calvert and Worcester counties. While in law school, Ben served as Dean's Fellow to Professor Rice, the former Evidence Master for the AT&T break-up litigation. Ben is a member of the...

The majority of my practice is construction and government contract litigation, although I also represent franchisees and businesses in a variety of other matters. Primarily, my objectives are to solve my client's problem quickly, efficiently and economically. To this end, in addition to handling complex litigation from start to finish, whether through settlement or final court disposition, I strive to be my client's general counsel - always available to consult, advise and strategize with them on matters ranging from employer/employee issues, government and regulatory compliance, insurance matters as well as corporate formation, structure, resolution and related needs. As...

Mr. Burkhouse is a partner at Pessin Katz Law, P.A. His practice includes labor and employment litigation, education law, construction, and business litigation. Mr. Burkhouse represents both public and private sector clients regarding a wide array of litigation-related issues. Mr. Burkhouse also counsels employers on legal compliance issues including wage/hour policies, reasonable accommodation of disabilities, and employee discrimination issues. As an active member of the PK Law Education and School law practice, Mr. Burkhouse has litigated cases for a number of the firm's school board clients in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, as...

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,...

Nakia Gray is a multi-faceted businesswoman and lawyer. She leverages her expertise in intellectual property law and brand strategy to give Black women business owners the legal strategies they need to package, protect and profit from their intellectual property. Having launched her law firm in 2014, Nakia has provided brand strategy and legal solutions to thousands of small business owners, and believes that with the right legal strategy a business can expand, grow and create a lasting legacy. For four years in a row Nakia has been named a Top Attorney by Washington, D.C.’s SuperLawyers magazine and has been featured on the...

I am an experienced Maryland and District of Columbia Attorney. My practice areas include Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Immigration, Personal Injury, Car Accidents, and Debtor/Creditor Law. I take great pride in providing personalized and effective representation. I am dedicated to meeting the legal needs and goals of my clients.

In 1995, I received my B.S. in Marine & Environmental Science from Hampton University. I earned my J.D. from Howard University School of Law in 1998. I am admitted to practice in Maryland, District of Columbia, the U.S. District Court District of Maryland, and the U.S. District Court District of Columbia.

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...

Ron Dweck is Chair of the firm’s Corporate practice group, and a member of the Tax, Nonprofit and Science & Technology groups. Ron acts as general counsel to a number of companies, including large and small corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and business organizations in various fields. As such, he knows a great deal about many different practice areas and applies that knowledge to better serve his corporate clients. His corporate work includes preparing and negotiating a wide variety of business contracts, as well as counseling in conjunction with executive compensation, corporate governance and risk & litigation management. He has...

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...

Robert Maclay is Co-President of the firm, and a member of its Estate Planning, Estate & Trust Administration, Corporate and Tax practice groups, among others. In all areas of his practice, Bob’s clients continually praise him for the personal attention he consistently gives them, touting him as a good listener, responsive to their needs, and capable of managing complex issues.
On the estate planning side of his practice, Bob Maclay works with people who may be facing a very difficult time in their lives and alleviates their personal concerns regarding their children and grandchildren. Whether he is preparing wills, trusts or...

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...

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...

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...

Meredith Hill Law is a women run law firm that serves as legal concierge and general counsel for small businesses, as well as, assists individual clients with their estate plans. From the start of her legal career, Meredith knew that she wanted to start her own law firm. She wanted to create a business and brand of her own that would be a positive impact to others in her community. When she first began her firm, Meredith fell in love with running her businesses and it sparked a desire for her to help other business owners with their legal needs.

As...

Mark Rothman is a founding member of the firm and currently serving as senior counsel to the Corporate, Estate Planning, Tax and Estate & Trust Administration practice groups. He practices primarily tax and business law and estate planning, and represents large real estate holding companies and large retail operating companies. He has extensive experience structuring proposed business ventures, such as limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships and Subchapter-S corporations, and also represents clients in conjunction with the sale and acquisition of a business. In addition to his business-related practice, Mark handles sophisticated and complex estate and succession planning matters, particularly...

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...

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...

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...

As a member of the firm’s Tax, Retirement Plans, Employee Benefits, Estate Planning, Estate & Trust Administration, and Corporate practice groups, Arnold Sherman focuses his practice on the areas of tax and business planning, and estate planning and probate administration matters. He has extensive experience in negotiating, structuring and documenting business contracts, tax-deferred exchanges and wealth preservation structures.
Arnie’s knowledge and familiarity with how businesses work make him especially adept at understanding and responding to the needs of his business clients. He is diligent in keeping himself apprised of current tax laws and continually works to provide his clients with the...

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...

Timothy P. Leahy practices law in Maryland and the District of Columbia and is a member of the American, Maryland, D.C, and Prince George’s County Bar associations. He received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Baltimore Law School in May 2000, earned his M.B.A. in 1993 at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and his B.S. in Transportation & Logistics at Maryland in 1990. Timothy brings over 10 years experience in business to his over 11 years of law practice and focuses on litigation and general practice matters. A former licensed home improvement contractor and...

We focus on prompt responses on a human level to clients' legal needs. We have had forty years experience in a broad range of legal issues involving individuals, small businesses and real estate developers. We work with individual property owners to develop, sell and purchase residential and commercial property.

Mark Goldstein, one of the founders of the firm, is a member of its Corporate, Financial Services, Estate Planning and Estate & Trust Administration practice groups. He concentrates on corporate, business, estate and tax planning and advises large and small corporations, general and limited partnerships, associations and proprietorships on sophisticated business planning issues. He represents a large number of estate planning clients and is well respected for his ability to communicate and implement complicated plans in a practical manner. Mark has significant experience in structuring and negotiating business and financing transactions, reorganizations and private placement syndications. He has served as...

For more than 40 years, Art House has been working with businesses of all types as a corporate lawyer and litigator. He chairs the firm’s Science & Technology and Alternative Dispute Resolution practice groups, and is a member of the Corporate practice group. Art brings responsiveness and an ability to offer practical solutions to his clients, understanding that his clients’ business needs drive the deals, not the lawyer.
Art’s background in enterprise development, licensing for technology-based companies and assisting both established and start-up businesses in developing legal, business alliance and acquisition strategies gives him unique insight into the real-world problems facing...

Cristen Rose’s practice encompasses a wide variety of commercial & business litigation, with significant experience in mass torts, class actions, product liability defense, environmental litigation, contractual disputes and regulatory compliance. As a member of the firm’s Regulatory Law & Litigation practice group, she devotes a significant portion of her practice to the regulation of pesticides and other chemical products under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Cristen also has extensive experience representing companies that are subjects of investigations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the...

Victor Rosenberg, a founding member of the firm, is also a member of its Corporate, Tax, Estate Planning, and Estate & Trust Administration practice groups. He concentrates his practice on corporate, real estate, business, estate planning, probate and tax matters and is also involved in family wealth preservation and business continuity through the establishment of charitable trusts of all types, private foundations, family partnerships and limited liability companies.
Victor is active in trust reformation as well as the financing and sale of beneficial interests in trusts. He has extensive experience in structuring and negotiating business and financing transactions, including the sale...

Linda Schwartz is a senior member of the Professional Ethics & Discipline, Estate Planning, Estate & Trust Administration, Corporate, and Real Estate practice groups. She has considerable experience in complex real estate and commercial transactions, business planning, executive succession planning, and estate planning and administration for both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens. For more than 30 years, she has served as counsel to prominent national, regional and local developers and business owners. In 2006, she was elected to the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.
Throughout her legal career, Linda has been active in public service. She is a former Assistant Attorney...