WHO WE ARE

We are, in a sense, a firm for the general practice of law.

By that, we mean that there are some areas where we have extensive experience and training, but we also can and will engage in the general practice of law matters.

In short, we are prepared to represent our clients with a wide array of legal services.

We have extensive experience with real estate matters of all types – including acquisitions, financings, development, historic preservation and conservation easements. We can also assist with easement and survey/boundary matters, as well as all types of leases.

Our Legal Assistant Marcie Riley has a Paralegal Studies and more than 25 years experience with all aspects of the law.

We also have a diverse environmental law practice at the Federal, State and local levels including matters relating to the Clean Water Act, Maryland Critical Area and afforestation regulations and tidal and non-tidal wetland matters.

Our general law practice includes judicial and administrative actions, as well as mediation and arbitration. We have also assisted clients with the organization and management of non-profit entities of various types.

Marcie Riley has a Paralegal Studies degree from Villa Julie College and more than 25 years of experience.

Our practice also includes assisting our clients with estate planning and administration matters, and business matters of all types including proprietor startups, the organization and operation of corporate, LLC, partnerships and joint ventures, non-profit entities and employment matters.

We welcome the establishment of substantive and long term relationships with our clients, by which we can provide comprehensive legal services, including for farm, estate and vacation property owners.

The law is reason free of passion.      Aristotle

As public servants, we accept our profound responsibilities and duties to our community and society, and the specific interests of our clients from all walks of life. We are committed to pursue and advocate for all of them with the same professional attention to detail, vigor and diligence.

We understand the cultural and historic cynicism of lawyers – after all, it was Shakespeare who said “kill all the lawyers first” – but we also know that we can and do pursue and achieve a professionalism which challenges that premise and assertion. We believe – and are proud – that the practice of law is among the most honorable and noble of professions.

We welcome the representation of clients in all matters with which we are qualified – and are excited to assist with those challenges which are complex and “out of the box”.

We are committed to representing our clients with a good disposition, common sense and a sense of humor.

We embrace the unique Eastern Shore culture – and the time and special place – in which we live and practice.

In an effort to achieve personal intellectual and professional enrichment and enlightenment, and – more importantly – to better serve our clients, we all enthusiastically pursue and participate in continuing legal education.

Our vision is embedded in our motto Sapientia et Veritas – truth & wisdom. We are dedicated to the pursuit of those virtues.

Our mission is to be professionals and public servants who are the best we can be, and who are dedicated to the rule of law and service to our clients and the community in which we live.

We are proud and confident to be who we are, but will always strive to better ourselves and the services we provide.

We are bound by the law so that we may be free.      Cicero

We believe that we are most effective as professionals and fulfilled as individuals when our office protocols and operations afford personal flexibility and opportunities for our attorneys and Legal Assistants.

To that end, our culture and operations are a blend of appropriate respect and formality among ourselves and with our clients and colleagues, but also with gentility and informality.

We share a goal of the success of those who we represent, but also with a humility that there are winners and losers in all matters which are contested. When it is the latter, we will always be proud and confident that our efforts were the best that they could be so that we hold our heads high.

We will at all times advocate for our clients with respect for our adversaries and the judicial and other forums in which contests are adjudicated. And we view each transaction, interaction and proceeding – among clients, colleagues, authorities and foes alike – as an opportunity to listen and learn all to the end of being more informed, experienced and helpful to our clients.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. It is also what it takes to sit down and listen.   Winston Churchill

Though we are known for the breadth of our expertise and experience we have been recognized for our success in regulatory environmental cases, when our clients’ needs require other more specialized assistance, we will assist in establishing alliances with other attorneys and professionals that will facilitate and advance those clients’ best interests and goals.

With respect to our fees for legal services, we are competitive with our peers in the region.  We are always willing to be creative in structuring our fees to facilitate the best interests and representation of our clients.  H&A is firmly committed to providing the broadest possible access to the justice system by performing annual pro-bono and reduced rate work on a case-by-case and need basis.  Unless we are retained, we never charge for initial consultations – on the telephone or in person.

We believe and appreciate that advocacy of our clients’ goals is the primary raison d’ếtre for our services, but we also have a responsibility to provide calm, well-conceived and candid counsel and guidance to our clients when requested and when the situation demands it. That counsel will be frank and free of false hope, but always with the optimism that, with preparation, focus and good judgment, truth and justice, and fairness and equity, will prevail.

Because we are a small group of professionals, we are nimble and capable of providing expeditious and cost effective legal services. While we have no immediate plans to expand the size of our firm, we are always open to strategic alliances and cooperative relationships with other lawyers, firms and non-attorney professionals when it will assist in the advancement of our clients’ interests.

And we enthusiastically look forward to the future! . . . and the hope, challenges and opportunities that it may afford to all of us, clients and colleagues alike.