Appearing on WBOC TV – Attorney David Bulitt and his wife Julie tell us how to keep the love alive all year long.
Author: JGL Law
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Attorney David Bulitt and his wife, Julie Bulitt tell all about how to keep those February 14th vibes going all year long.
GREENBELT, MD., February 14, 2022 – Joseph Greenwald & Laake P.A. is pleased to announce that Matthew M. Bryant and Erika Jacobsen White have been elevated to Partner status.
“The firm is thrilled to add them both to our Board as Partners. They are incredibly bright and unwavering advocates for their clients.” said Paul Riekhof, Managing Director. “It is extremely well-deserved, and we look forward to their continued success at JGL.”
Matthew M. Bryant is in the firm’s Civil Litigation practice group. He is an experienced trial and appellate attorney representing businesses and individuals in state and federal court.
Erika Jacobsen White represents victims of employment discrimination, sexual abuse, civil rights, and personal injury matters throughout Maryland, DC, and California. Her career-long commitment to representing real people facing tough challenges in their lives has resulted in significant results for her clients at trial, mediation, and arbitration – recovering millions of dollars for her clients over the course of her career.
About Joseph Greenwald & Laake
For more than 50 years, Joseph Greenwald & Laake has worked with individuals and businesses in Maryland and the District of Columbia, taking on the most complex of legal issues with sophisticated counsel and a personal touch. JGL serves clients in virtually all areas of the law.
Joseph, Greenwald and Laake has been representing clients in suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia for almost 50 years. With offices in Greenbelt and Rockville, Maryland, we have lawyers who focus their practices in diverse areas of the law, including employment and whistleblower actions, family law, estates and trusts, civil rights, business planning and commercial litigation, personal injury, medical and professional negligence.
In this episode, Allison McFadden & John Faggio discuss the following issues and more:
- Falsifying information on contract proposals
- Misrepresenting a project’s status to continue receiving government funds
- Concealing cybersecurity vulnerabilities and falsely certifying compliance with applicable cybersecurity laws
JGL LAW FOR YOU brings you up close and personal with our lawyers who will be discussing how to navigate the many legal processes, developments in the law, other current events and how they may affect you.
Joseph, Greenwald and Laake has been representing clients in suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia for almost 50 years. With offices in Greenbelt and Rockville, Maryland, we have lawyers who focus their practices in diverse areas of the law, including employment and whistleblower actions, family law, estates and trusts, civil rights, business planning and commercial litigation, personal injury, medical and professional negligence.
In this episode, Robert Scheer & David Bulitt discuss the following:
- How and why Comfort Cases was founded?
- When youth age out of foster care – what are their options
- What government is/is not doing enough of to help youth in foster care?
- How foster parents are abusing the system/going in to it for the wrong reasons.
JGL LAW FOR YOU brings you up close and personal with our lawyers who will be discussing how to navigate the many legal processes, developments in the law, other current events and how they may affect you.
Hopefully you don’t have to make this decision often, but it’s important to understand when to hire a personal injury attorney.
If you’re ever hurt or injured in an accident, you should hire a personal injury attorney shortly after the incident. Although you can hire a personal injury firm at any time, the reason it’s important to hire one shortly after you’re injured is due to the fact that the process immediately begins and you want to avoid being without an experienced personal injury attorney early on.
Personal Injuries Can Occur in Various Ways
Car accidents are probably the first situations that come to mind when you think of when to hire a personal injury attorney, but personal injury claims can arise from many other situations as well. Serious injury can occur from unsafe property conditions that cause you to trip and fall, dog bites, negligent security, construction accidents, unsafe products, aviation and maritime accidents, excessive force by police, and medical or hospital malpractice. All of these claims can be handled by an experienced personal injury attorney.
Some Reasons Why You Should Hire a Personal Injury Attorney
- Cases Can be Complex
Some personal injury claims involve multiple parties, such as a multi-vehicle accident. Product liability that causes an injury will have to be supported by evidence and a case will need to be carefully built. Often the defense insurance company will try to make it seem you’re the one at fault. Building a case involving medical malpractice or defective products requires experts that are able to decipher medical records, or product designs. Expert medical professionals must be able to determine the extent of an injury and relate the cause to the incident. A competent personal injury attorney will work through the various intricacies of the law and come up with a solid case for you. - Major Injury or Trauma Occurred
What you may think is a minor injury can turn into life-changing, long term injuries. Major injuries could require lifelong care. A personal injury attorney will have the staff available to help determine the compensation needed to ensure you get the right care. This includes medical experts as well as investigative staff. - Your Interests are #1
Insurance companies, like any other business, need to take care of their shareholders. This means they are motivated to make as large a profit as possible. What does this mean for you? Your interests are not remotely considered. No defense insurance company has ever worried about doing the right thing. Your own personal injury attorney is only concerned with your best interests, and not the insurance company’s. Their only job is to ensure that you’re properly compensated for the injuries you have suffered. During every phase of your case, you should expect to be kept informed and treated with compassion and respect.
When to hire a personal injury attorney is an extremely critical decision. You should certainly consult a personal injury attorney before making any statements, recorded telephone calls, signing any documents or authorizations to obtain medical records, or accepting any settlement from an insurance company. It’s important to realize that insurance companies may offer what sounds like a reasonable settlement but which is in reality a much smaller settlement than they deserve in order to preserve their profits. Only an experienced personal injury attorney can help you determine whether an offer of settlement is reasonable under your particular circumstances.
If you’ve been injured and need a personal injury attorney in the DC/Maryland area, click here to contact Joseph, Greenwald & Laake. Since the firm’s inception, JGL’s experienced personal injury lawyers have achieved excellent results for seriously injured people in cases involving car and/or truck accidents, dangerous products, professional negligence, and premises liability, among others.
When you get a ticket, it can be difficult to gauge just how much trouble you’re in, as the penalties for different laws vary across states. By understanding your charges, and the defenses available to you, it’s possible to reduce the charges or be acquitted entirely.
If you’ve been ticketed with reckless driving, don’t just resign yourself to accepting the charge. Joseph Greenwald & Lake Law’s experienced traffic violation defense attorneys know best defenses for reckless driving, and want you to know whether you have a case against any undue claims.
What Does Reckless Driving in Maryland Mean?
In Maryland, a person considered to be guilty of reckless driving must (1) drive a motor vehicle (2) with a “wanton or willful disregard for the safety of persons or property” or “[i]n a manner that indicates a wanton or willful disregard for the safety of persons or property.” Md. Code, § 21-901.1(a) of the Transportation Article. Examples of reckless driving can be anything from speeding, to drunk driving, to passing another vehicle at a railroad crossing.
Typically, the penalties for a reckless driving violation result in six points against a person’s driving record, resulting in mandatory enrollment in a Driver Improvement Program (DIP). On top of that, individuals found guilty of reckless driving face a possible fine up to $1,000, increased insurance rates, and a mark on their driving record.
Potential Defenses
There are several defenses that may apply in cases of reckless driving in Maryland:
1. The defendant wasn’t the driver
As in all criminal defense cases, the defendant has to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in order for the charges to stand. That burden of proof isn’t on the defense attorney, but the prosecutor or the Assistant State’s Attorney to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was driving the vehicle when the charges were made. A lack of sufficient evidence can lead to an acquittal or dropping the charges.
2. The driving was not reckless, but inadvisable
In Maryland, reckless driving must be done with intent, or carelessness, for the safety of the people around you. Regardless of whether they’re passengers, pedestrians, or fellow drivers. Depending on why the defendant was charged with reckless driving, an attorney may be able to use evidence to show the defendant was actually negligent, speeding, or making an unwise driving decision.
Negligent driving in Maryland occurs when a person drives his or her vehicle in a careless or imprudent manner, which endangers the life and property of surrounding persons or property in the process. T.A. § 21-901.1(b). It is a similar, but less severe, charge than reckless driving. It results in one or three points added to your driving record, depending if it involved an accident, and a fine up to $500. If this defense was successful, the charge could either be reduced to negligent driving, speeding, or dropped entirely.
3. The driver was distracted not reckless
As previously stated, for driving to be considered reckless in the state of Maryland there must be a willful disregard for other people’s safety or property on the part of the driver. Meaning there must be an element of awareness that their driving is unsafe, and that they’ve decided to ignore the risks.
People who are driving while distracted do not necessarily have that same awareness; their poor driving may occur merely because they aren’t paying enough attention to the road.
4. The defendant’s reckless driving was necessary
To prove that the defendant’s actions were necessary, there must be proof that the defendant had a good reason to commit the offense and there was no alternative action they could have taken. This defense automatically admits that the defendant drove recklessly, but that they were forced to by circumstance.
Situations that can warrant necessity:
- The defendant was under duress, in a situation where they were fleeing from someone trying to harm or kill them.
- There was an emergency, medical or otherwise.
- The defendant was trying to avoid greater harm, their actions were taken to evade another driver’s erratic driving.
Understanding the charges against you is the best weapon you have in defending yourself. Once you’ve determined you have a potential case, your next best weapon is a good attorney.
Trust JGL Law for Reckless Driving Tickets in Maryland
The beauty of our justice system is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. If you believe that any one of these defenses may apply to your case, reach out to Joseph Greenwald and Lake PA and our seasoned attorneys will help you reach the best outcome for your case.
Schedule a consultation now or call us at 301-220-2200.
Joseph, Greenwald and Laake has been representing clients in suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia for almost 50 years. With offices in Greenbelt and Rockville, Maryland, we have lawyers who focus their practices in diverse areas of the law, including employment and whistleblower actions, family law, estates and trusts, civil rights, business planning and commercial litigation, personal injury, medical and professional negligence.
In this episode, Sarah Chu discusses the following issues and more:
- Falsifying information on contract proposals
- Misrepresenting a project’s status to continue receiving government funds
- Concealing cybersecurity vulnerabilities and falsely certifying compliance with applicable cybersecurity laws
JGL LAW FOR YOU brings you up close and personal with our lawyers who will be discussing how to navigate the many legal processes, developments in the law, other current events and how they may affect you.
Joseph, Greenwald and Laake has been representing clients in suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia for almost 50 years. With offices in Greenbelt and Rockville, Maryland, we have lawyers who focus their practices in diverse areas of the law, including employment and whistleblower actions, family law, estates and trusts, civil rights, business planning and commercial litigation, personal injury, medical and professional negligence.
In this episode, we have JGL Attorney, Hannah Nallo & Allen Liu, Policy Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
In this episode, they discuss the following topics and more:
- What is the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021?
- What was left out of the Act/what is still left to do?
- Is there traction for police reform on the federal side?
JGL LAW FOR YOU brings you up close and personal with our lawyers who will be discussing how to navigate the many legal processes, developments in the law, other current events and how they may affect you.
Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and even digital real estate are some of the more widely known concepts that are leading a digital revolution in our ever-evolving global economy.
As various forms of digital assets become more mainstream, so too does it become increasingly important to understand these assets and their relation to the divorce process. In this blogpost, I will attempt to de-mystify digital assets, such as cryptocurrency, NFTs, and digital real estate to equip you with a general understanding of these concepts so that you are better prepared to discuss these assets in the setting of a divorce matter.
Divorce and Digital Assets:
At a base level, a digital asset, particularly cryptocurrency, shares many similarities with other financial asset. In the setting of a divorce, like with any other financial asset, cryptocurrency can be identified and valued and added to a chart comparing assets for the purposes of negotiation and determining “off-sets”. However, it is important to appreciate that cryptocurrency should be considered a separate class of asset.
Generally, most users will acquire cryptocurrency through exchange or trading platforms such as Coinbase, Gemini, Robinhood, or Webull. As a result, observing a user’s cryptocurrency holdings can be as easy as viewing an account statement or summary. During the midst of a divorce matter, when the parties exchange their financial documents, statements from an exchange or trading platform should be produced if the individual holds cryptocurrency. Even if a statement from an exchange or trading platform is not provided, significant information related to cryptocurrency holdings can be determined by an experienced professional just by reviewing bank statements, which may exhibit transactions made on exchange/trading platforms.
What happens when one spouse breaches their duty to fully disclose their assets?
Traditionally, if one spouse believes the other was not disclosing a financial asset, they could rely upon the use of subpoenas to access the information directly from the financial institution in question. Despite the fact that cryptocurrency is decentralized by nature (meaning there is, generally, no singular financial institution from which you can acquire information), it remains possible to request records of an individual’s transactions from a particular exchange/platform.
Consulting with an expert, experienced in asset tracking and tracing, particularly relative to cryptocurrency, can be useful when attempting to track/trace the acquisition of cryptocurrency, even if it has been transferred to a “virtual wallet” (a virtual wallet can be anything that stores the unique key to the individual’s portion of the blockchain, including a thumb drive). If access to the “virtual wallet” is lost, then access to the cryptocurrency could be lost for good. Similarly, if access to the wallet is refused or blocked, then access to the cryptocurrency, even for evaluation purposes, is all but thwarted. Therefore, one should be mindful of how freely the unique cryptocurrency key is disclosed because the loss of the unique key could mean the loss of the cryptocurrency holdings. Nevertheless, like with any expert, significant consideration must be given to the cost of the expert relative to the potential value of the cryptocurrency assets.
Though cryptocurrency functions like many other financial assets in the context of a divorce and can be divided in a manner that the parties feel appropriate, careful consideration is required. Initially, unlike many assets which can maintain their value for keeps and even months at a time, the value of cryptocurrency is particularly volatile and unlike a traditional stock exchange, cryptocurrency trades 24 hours a day and so the value can fluctuate at any given minute. It is good practice to keep apprised of the trading value of a particular cryptocurrency throughout your asset negotiations as well as accounting for the taxable consequences (capital gains) associated with cryptocurrency holdings (depending on the extent of the cryptocurrency, consulting with a tax professional may be appropriate). Additionally, the parties should consider how the transfer is effectuated. Unlike retirement benefits or bank accounts, many cryptocurrency exchanges/platforms are new and have limited experience with transferring cryptocurrency assets subject to a divorce. If the asset(s) have been transferred to a virtual wallet, there is an added layer of complication concerning how you can transfer the cryptocurrency.
Property distribution as part of a divorce settlement can be a complicated process. Having an experienced divorce attorney that understands not only traditional assets, but new assets, such as cryptocurrency, will be an asset to how you can effectively settle your case.
What is it? – A General Explanation of Cryptocurrency
The IRS defines cryptocurrency as a type of virtual currency “that utilizes cryptography to validate and secure transactions that are digitally recorded on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain.” Predictably, this definition is nearly as complex as cryptocurrency itself.
Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, are based on blockchain databases. The blockchain database operates as a ledger of all transactions in the particular cryptocurrency network. The blockchain database fundamentally relies upon the concept of cryptography (hence “crypto”) to establish the entire framework of how information and ultimately, the resulting cryptocurrency, is distributed.
Generally speaking, a blockchain database organizes data in decentralized “blocks” and once a “block” is full of information, it is time-stamped and connected to a prior “block” via an encrypted connection (cryptography), hence a chain of blocks. Once a block is connected, that data is immutable as if set in stone. This is fundamentally different from traditional databases, which typically store information at a central location and are therefore vulnerable to corruption if that central location is compromised. The nature of blockchain databases allow it to operate on a decentralized global network of connected computers (or nodes), which means that each connection to the network is able to cross-reference the other, making for an optimally secure system that checks itself. However, in order to maintain this network, the connected computers (or nodes) are encouraged to participate in efforts to maintain the system, such as by “validating” the transactions that make up each block on the chain.
In order to encourage enough members of the network to validate the transactions that establish the blockchain and therefore maintain the security of the network, the network offers incentives in the form of cryptocurrency, which itself is part of the blockchain. The process of validation depends on the network and can include validation protocols including energy-intensive “mining” protocols (Proof of Work validation protocols) to less intensive protocols (Proof of Stake validation protocols). Therefore, the “ownership” of cryptocurrency, is really the entitlement to the portion of the blockchain, which that user helped to validate. The portion of the blockchain that a person “owns” is accessible with a unique key (or code) specific to that particular portion of the blockchain.
The value of a particular cryptocurrency increases the incentive to participate in the network itself as well as create the market of trading the coins themselves. Bitcoin is perhaps the most widely recognized cryptocurrency and like many other cryptocurrencies, it operates on a deflationary basis, which means that there is a finite amount of “coins” and the availability of coins will reduce overtime, hence the general increase in value. Aside from earning cryptocurrency as an incentive for participating in the validation process, cryptocurrency can also be traded on exchange platforms. Most commonly, a participant links their traditional bank account to an exchange platform and purchases available cryptocurrency.
One should employ significant due diligence when reviewing bank account statements to determine the extent of cryptocurrency holdings. If there is a substantial amount of cryptocurrency at issue, it may be beneficial to consult with a professional experienced in asset tracing/tracking to determine the extent of cryptocurrency holdings, which could result in a significantly different financial distribution.
Maryland – The 2022 edition of Maryland, Super Lawyers magazine recently named 16 Joseph Greenwald & Laake, P.A. attorneys to its annual Maryland, Super Lawyers lists.
The Maryland, attorneys who made this year’s Super Lawyers list, including their primary practice areas as identified by Super Lawyers, are:
Greenbelt, MD
- Andrew E. Greenwald – Medical Malpractice: Plaintiff
- Burt M. Kahn – Medical Malpractice: Plaintiff
- Jay P. Holland – Labor & Employment
- Steven M. Pavsner – Medical Malpractice: Plaintiff
- Timothy F. Maloney – Gen Litigation
- Valerie Grove – Medical Malpractice: Defense
Rockville, MD
- David M. Bulitt – Family Law
- Jeffrey N. Greenblatt – Family Law
- Patrick W. Dragga – Family Law
- P. Lindsay Parvis – Family Law
- Anne E. Grover – Family Law
- Jeffrey Hannon – Family Law
Rising Star
- Allison McFadden – Family Law
- Alyse Prawde – Civil Litigation: Plaintiff
- Rama Taib-Lopez – Family Law
- Christopher R. Castellano – Family Law
Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.
Reversed suspension of lobbyist by State Ethics Commission. Bereano v. State Ethics Commission (Md. 2008)
