Welcome

Please take a look at the "Decisions" page for a Summary of Selected Arbitration Awards.

Contact me with any question you may have.


I am proud to have been named in the Alternative Dispute Resolution category in the 2012 edition of Best Lawyers Baltimore & Washington, DC.

An Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, I am a former Principal in the law firms of Semmes, Bowen & Semmes and Blum, Yumkas, Mailman and Gutman, with an “av” Martindale Hubbell rating,  now engaged exclusively in the ADR practice of mediation and arbitration.

My practice since 2004 has been as an arbitrator and mediator, in labor and employment, eduation issues, business and other civil disputes. This followed a wide-ranging background in matters of public (education, police, fire, public works,health care, corrections, transportation) and private sector labor relations, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, and civil rights. I have arbitrated and mediated over 150 cases, including complex multiparty and class action disputes. I am listed on the dispute resolution rosters listed below which provide qualified arbitrators and mediators to parties in dispute.

The factors that determine whether a party to arbitration trusts the arbitrator does not include wining or losing. If this were so, a survey regarding arbitrator trust would always generate a distrust quotient of 50%. Rather, trust of an arbitrator is earned by the arbitrator’s management of the arbitration process and the reasoning of the award. I strive to generate respect from all parties to a dispute—winners and losers—by;

  1. the fair and cost-efficient manner in which the procedures and the hearing itself are conducted, and
  2. the quality of the award’s analysis of evidence and legal arguments that each of the parties brought to the table that dictated the relief awarded.

Professional Experience

  • Trial attorney - National Labor Relations Board
  • Assistant City Solicitor City of Baltimore – Labor Counsel
  • Labor Commissioner of Baltimore City (Mayoral Appointment)
  • Teaching - Labor Law (University of Baltimore- formerly Mount Vernon School of Law); Business Law (Community College of Baltimore City
  • Private Practice in Labor and Employment and Education Litigation.
  • Private Practice in ADR Mediation and Arbitration
  • Member, Maryland General Assembly Workgroup on the Status of Graduate Assistants and Adjunct Faculty in  the University System of Maryland 
  • Member: Governor’s Task Force on Public Employment Labor Relations (Maryland)