Maryland Lawyer Blog

The Baltimore Sun reports the tragic news that John N. Prevas died at Mercy Hospital last night, reportedly (not by the Sun) of a heart attack. Judge Prevas has been the chief judge of the Baltimore Circuit Court since 1986.

He was known as a judge who would let you try your case but was a stickler on the rules of evidence. Judge Prevas did not pretend to know law that he didn't know, and was often willing to look for the answer immediately to make sure to get it right.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the 63-year-old judge was born in Baltimore, and graduated from City College. Judge Prevas received his bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and his law degree from Maryland. Before taking the bench, he was an assistant state's attorney.

It is a sad loss not only for his family but the Maryland legal community, as well.

The defendant prevailed in lawsuit contending that a Baltimore City police officer was negligent when he shot and killed a fellow police officer during a fight that erupted at an East Baltimore strip club.

I didn't follow this sad case. You can read the Maryland Daily Record account of the case and the verdict here.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife apparently called Anita Hill and left her a voice mail:

“Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something,” continued the voicemail, left on Hill’s office exchange. “I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. Okay have a good day.”

There are a lot of interesting questions and commentary that stem from this message, certainly. But I am more interested in Anita Hill's response. She called the FBI. The FBI? The inference I get from the story is that the FBI investigated this. Why? There is no threat. Even if it was a prank, it sure would not seem to need the involvement of the FBI.

I'm flabbergasted by this. I'll be interested to see if anyone else picks up on this angle to the story. I have never had a remotely negative impression of Anita Hill. And, who knows, maybe the FBI has instructed her to report all pranks, etc. But it just seems absolutely insane to me that two cents of our tax dollars would go towards taking her call from this type of message.

New Hampshire provides the latest in reminders that this is not a good idea.

Okay, Maryland's bar exam results for 2010 are not out yet. And you know they are not out yet. So why are you Googling it? It is a little obsessive, don't you think?

Here's the deal. First of all, you probably passed. Last July, 81% of the applicants passed the Maryland bar. The Maryland bar exam, relatively speaking, does not set the bar very high. I think you are in that top 81%. Yes, you. In fact, your chances are better than 81% because a small percentage of the 19% who will fail are trying to Google when the exam results are coming out.

Second, if by some crazy off chance you failed the bar, it will be a blow and an embarrassment to you. That would be awful, I totally get that. But in the years to come, no one will know or care. The list of people who have failed the bar exam in the past include a lot of people smarter than both of us. Above the Law provides a partial list of smart people who failed the bar and went on to do great things.

• Maryland Bar Examiners Website
• Last July's Results
• More on the Bar Exam (from the New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog)

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (0)

Posted In: Practicing Law

The Washington Post has a good article from a lawyer at Joseph, Greenwald & Laake on the Limited Power of Attorney Act, a new Maryland law that creates new hoops before power of attorney can be transferred.

A New York appellate court ruled that the New York City Medical Examiner's Office's failure to inform parents that they had removed and kept their 17 year-old son's brain created a cause of action against the ME.

I don't know how I feel about this case. On some level, when you lose a 17 year-old son, you are always right. About everything. It is so awful you sort of want to spin everything in the parent's favor. On the other hand, the brain was returned (as strange as that sentence sounds). It seems like a great deal of litigation over an issue that is incredibly tangential to the core issue: the tragic death of a young man in a car accident. The boy's sister also has a separate lawsuit pending for her emotional injuries because she was in the zone of danger.

You can read the full story and draw your own conclusions here.

Yesterday was the first Monday in October which means the U.S. Supreme Court started its much ballyhooed new term in which many great issues of our day will be decided. The first case is a Chapter 13 debtor case addressing the issue of how much of a deduction a Chapter 13 debtor can take for a car the debtor owns.

Bankruptcy? Really? Someone wake me up when the Supreme Court moves past bankruptcy law.