Introducing the Applicants for the Court of Appeals and Court of Special Appeals: August 2018

By Diane E. Feuerherd

Three vacancies on Maryland’s appellate courts, arising from the forthcoming retirements of Judge Sally D. Adkins of the Court of Appeals (1^st Appellate Judicial Circuit, covering the Eastern Shore), Chief Judge Patrick L. Woodward of the Court of Special Appeals (Montgomery County), and Judge Deborah Sweet Eyler of the Court of Special Appeals (At Large), collectively drew 27 applicants, whose names were published this afternoon.

Here are the applicants for the Court of Appeals, 1^st Appellate Judicial Circuit:

• Christopher Francis Drummond, a sole private practitioner from Centreville
• Judge Christopher Burlee Kehoe, Court of Special Appeals for the 1st Appellate Judicial Circuit
• Judge Brett Windsor Wilson, Circuit Court for Dorchester County & Administrative Judge for the 1st Circuit (Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico & Worcester counties)

Here are the applicants for the Court of Special Appeals (for the At Large vacancy and/or the Montgomery County vacancy, as noted):

• Judge Krystal Quinn Alves, Circuit Court for Prince George’s County (At Large)
• Judge Shannon Elizabeth Avery, Circuit Court for Baltimore City (At Large)
• Bruce Michael Bender, Axelson, Williamowsky, Bender & Fishman, P.C. (At Large & Montgomery County)
• Cathleen Cawley Brockmeyer,* Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Division (At Large)
• Joseph Edward Carey, Carey Law Office, LLC (At Large)
• Gardner Mareen Duvall,* Whiteford, Taylor & Preston (At Large)
• Judge Judith Claibourne Ensor, Circuit Court for Baltimore County (At Large)
• Kurt James Fischer,* Venable LLP (At Large)
• Judge Lawrence Paul Fletcher-Hill, Circuit Court for Baltimore City (At Large)
• Steven Bennett Gould, Brown | Gould | Kiely LLP (At Large & Montgomery County)
• Rickey Nelson Jones, Law Office of Reverend Rickey Nelson Jones (At Large)
• Brian Scott Kleinbord, Office of the State’s Attorney for Montgomery County (At Large & Montgomery County)
• Steven Michael Klepper, Kramon & Graham PA (At Large)
• Jeremy Mark McCoy, Assistant Attorney General, General Assembly Counsel (At Large)
• James Bradford McCullough,* Lerch Early & Brewer (At Large & Montgomery County)
• Rachel Theora McGuckian, Miles & Stockbridge (At Large & Montgomery County)
• Judge Chung Ki Pak, Administrative Patent Judge at U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (At Large & Montgomery County)
• Judge Ronald Barry Rubin, Circuit Court for Montgomery County (At Large & Montgomery County)
• Steven Lee Tiedemann, General Counsel for the Powell Recovery Center, Inc. (At Large)
• Judge Sean Daniel Wallace,* Circuit Court for Prince George’s County (At Large)
• Judge Edward Gregory Wells, Circuit Court for Calvert County (At Large)
• Judge Pamela Janice White, Circuit Court for Baltimore City (At Large)
• Terrence Mark Ranko Zic, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston (Montgomery County)
• Phillip Robert Zuber, Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher (At Large)

“*” denotes an applicant whose name has been automatically advanced to the Nominee Pool, having been submitted to the Governor for a previous Court of Special Appeals vacancy within the past two years.

(The applicants include two members of the Blog’s editorial staff: Steven M. Klepper and Brad McCullough. Neither of them contributed to this post.)

In summary, there are 3 applicants for the Court of Appeals opening, 23 applicants for the Court of Special Appeals-At Large opening, and 8 applicants for the Court of Special Appeals-Montgomery County opening. The Appellate Courts Judicial Nominating Commission will meet on October 11 and 12.