Meet the Candidates for the Court of Special Appeals

By Steve Klepper (Twitter: @MDAppeal)

[Update: The Governor announced his picks on February 24, 2014. Click here for our post on those three selections.]

Governor O’Malley will be picking from 18 candidates to fill three vacancies on the Court of Special Appeals. The Maryland Courts website today posted the names that the Judicial Nominating Commission forward to the Governor. Two vacancies are for the new at-large seats, while a third is for the Baltimore City seat that Judge Shirley Watts vacated when she joined the Court of Appeals. It is an incredible list of qualified individuals. Excluding Jack Tranter, whose application was withdrawn, the 18 candidates are:

1. Honorable Krystal Quinn Alves, Prince George’s County Circuit Court
2. Kevin Francis Arthur,†^D Kramon & Graham, P.A.
3. Cathleen Cawley Brockmeyer, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Division
4. Honorable Audrey J. S. Carrion,† Baltimore City Circuit Court
5. Harriet Ellen Cooperman, Saul Ewing, LLP
6. Honorable Melanie Shaw Geter, Prince George’s County Circuit Court
7. Andrea Margaretta Leahy-Fucheck, Leahy & DeSmet, LLC
8. Thomas Edward Lynch, III,  Miles & Stockbridge
9. J. Bradford McCullough,^D Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd.
10. Honorable Cathy Hollenberg Serrette, Prince George’s County Circuit Court
11. H. Mark Stichel,† Gohn, Hankey & Stichel, LLP
12. Andrew Howard Baida,*^D Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP
13. Honorable Donald Eugene Beachley,* Washington County Circuit Court
14. Karen Louise Federman Henry,* Division Chief, Montgomery County Attorney’s Office
15. Daniel Alan Friedman,* General Assembly Counsel, Office of the Attorney General
16. Denise Oakes Shaffer,* Executive Administrative Law Judge & Deputy Director, Office of Administrative Hearings
17. Martin Eugene Wolf,*Gordon & Wolf, Chtd.
18. Honorable Michael Wilson Reed,‡ Baltimore City Circuit Court

“*” denotes candidates whose names were submitted to the Governor for a previous Court of Special Appeals vacancy within the past two years.

“†” denotes candidates who are eligible both for the at-large vacancies and for the Baltimore City vacancy.

“‡” denotes the one candidate, Judge Reed, who applied only for the Baltimore City seat, not for the at-large seats.

“D” denotes “Disclosure.” Kevin Arthur (who is one of my law partners) and Brad McCullough are members of the Maryland Appellate Blog’s editorial board. Andy Baida is the chair of the Appellate Practice Committee. None of them participated in the preparation of this post.