News

March 2023: Rifkin Weiner Livingston partner, Scott Livingston, was appointed to serve on the Transition Team of the recently-elected Maryland Attorney General, Anthony Brown.  Scott is co-leader of AG’s steering committee on state procurement law. In his former position as Assistant Attorney General (1976-’84), Scott helped draft the then-new procurement laws, including the laws creating the first statewide MBE procurement preference program and the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals.

Rifkin, Weiner, Livingston also announced 11 attorneys were recognized by Super Lawyers for 2023: Alan Rifkin – Entertainment and Sports; Arnold Weiner – Business Litigation; Scott Livingston – Government Contracts; Celeste Bruce – Business Litigation; Barry Gogel – Business Litigation; Brad Rifkin – Government Relations; Stuart Cherry – Business Litigation; Madelaine Katz – Business Litigation; Charles Fax – Business Litigation; Michael Berman – E-Discovery; Devon Harman – Business Litigation.

October 2022: Rifkin Weiner Livingston announced that the firm and a number of attorneys have again been recognized by Best Lawyers for its 2023 edition. The firm is recognized again as a 2023 Tier 1 “Best Law Firm” and our attorneys have been recognized in the practice areas listed: Alan M. Rifkin, Best Lawyers: Sports Law, Commercial Litigation; Arnold M. Weiner, Bet-The-Company Litigation, Commerical Litigation, Criminal Defense: White Collar, Professional Malpractice Law- Plaintiffs; Michael V. Johansen, Government Relations Practice; Jamie Eisenberg Katz, Business Organizations (Including LLCS and Partnerships), Real Estate Law; Barry L. Gogel, Commercial Litigation, Professional Malpractice Law- Plaintiffs; Brad I. Rifkin, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, Government Relations Practice; Michael T. Marr, Medical Malpractice Law- Defendants.

July 2022: Rifkin Weiner Livingston announced that William A. Castelli, Esq. will be joining the firm’s prestigious Government Relations and Lobbying group as a Partner on July 1, 2022. Bill brings a great depth of experience and knowledge with over 25 years of experience in government relations. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the Maryland REALTORS®, one of the largest professional trade associations in Maryland. He is also a past president of the Maryland Government Relations Association. Bill started his career in Maryland politics working as a legislative assistant for Congressman Steny Hoyer. Bill is a member of the Maryland Bar and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. He graduated from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and Colby College.

May 2022: Rifkin Weiner Livingston executive assistant Eva Kline has been honored by The Daily Record in its 2022 Leaders in Law – Law Firm Support Staff category. This is the first year that law firm support staff and paralegals have been acknowledged by The Daily Record.

November 2021: Rifkin Weiner Livingston partner Brad I. Rifkin has been honored by The Daily Record as one of its Successful by 40 VIP List winners for 2021. This year’s honorees were chosen by The Daily Record based on outstanding professional accomplishments, civic involvement and impact of achievement before or by age 40. Brad serves as Co-Chair of RWL’s Government Relations division, along with Camille Fesche, where he has successfully represented clients with a wide array of statutory, regulatory, funding and procurement interests in the areas of alcoholic beverage manufacturing, casino-gaming, franchise law, innovative technology, insurance, medical cannabis, non-profit organizations, satellite radio, telecommunications, and transportation. RWL also announced that the firm and a number of its attorneys have again been recognized by Best Lawyers for its 2022 edition. The firm was also recognized again as a 2022 Tier 1 “Best Law Firm.”

March 2021: Rifkin Weiner Livingston announced that Camille Fesche and Brad Rifkin have been elected by their colleagues to be the partners of the firm. Ms. Fesche and Mr. Rifkin are currently co-chairs of RWL’s Government Relations division. Ms. Fesche represents clients on topics related to education, wind energy, utilities, healthcare, deathcare, information technology, the civil justice system, bond bills for non-profit organizations, and procurement matters. Mr. Rifkin represents clients with a wide array of statutory, regulatory, funding and procurement interests, including automobile dealer, casino-gaming, innovative technology, insurance, non-profit organizations, rental cars, ride-sharing and ride-hailing.

December 2020: Rifkin Weiner Livingston announced that Rita Piel has joined the firm’s Business and Commercial Transactions and Sports Franchise and Media Rights Law groups. Rita’s practice areas include mergers, acquisitions, recapitalization, business formation, contract drafting and negotiation, stockholder and member agreements, financing and investment documents, real estate, labor and employment. Additionally, the firm has added Obie Chinemere to their Annapolis office.  Prior to joining RWL, Obie most recently served as Regional Director for U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen.  His robust resume in politics also includes work as Campaign Manager for State Senator Cory McCray (D-45), Deputy Field Director for Ben Jealous’ gubernatorial campaign and Community Liaison for Baltimore City Councilman Eric Costello. The firm’s managing partner Alan M. Rifkin has been honored by The Daily Record as one of its 2020 Icon Honors award winners.  This prestigious award recognizes leaders across Maryland for their notable success and demonstration of strong leadership.  Alan was also recognized by the Baltimore Business Journal in its Who’s Who in Law 2020.

October 2020: Rifkin Weiner Livingston partner Steve Kuperberg was recently interviewed by Ted Slafsky, former executive director of the trade association 340B Health and current publisher of 340B Report.  In addition to publishing 340B Report, Mr. Slafsky is a monthly contributor to a blog hosted by Pharmaceutical Strategies Group (PSG), a third-party administrator that provides consulting and software solutions to assist healthcare companies with drug cost management, particularly surrounding the 340B federal drug pricing program.

June 2020: Rifkin Weiner Livingston announced John (JR) Reith has been appointed RWL Chief Operating Officer and Camille Fesche and Brad Rifkin have been named co-chairs of the Firm’s Government Relations Division.  This news follows the announcement that long-time RWL partner and respected colleague Eric Bryant has been appointed Chief of Staff to Congressman Kweisi Mfume, after successfully managing his most recent campaign. Click here to read the full announcement.

May 2020: Rifkin Weiner Livingston congratulates its partner and Government Relations Division co-chair Eric Bryant for successfully managing the congressional campaign of former U.S. Representative Kweisi Mfume, who won the special election primary to fill the seat vacated by the death of former U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings. Click here to read the full announcement.

March 2020: Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston is pleased to inform you that the historic capital plan to preserve and enhance the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore and enhance year-round thoroughbred horse racing at Laurel Park has passed the Maryland General Assembly and is now on the Governor’s desk. Click here for full story.

February 2019: Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston managing partner Alan Rifkin has been named by The Daily Record, Maryland’s leading business and legal publication, one of its 2019 Influential Marylanders. The Influential Marylander award recognizes those across the state who are leaving a mark on their respective communities. Honorees were selected by the publication’s editors in the fields of civic leadership,  communications, education, finance, general business, healthcare, law, philanthropy, real estate and technology. This is the second time Mr. Rifkin has been chosen to receive this award, having first been named one of The Daily Record’s inaugural Influential Marylanders in 2007.

January 2019: Chuck Fax and Liesel Schopler of Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston recently won a major victory over the Republic of Hungary and its national railroad in a class action suit brought on behalf of Holocaust survivors. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the District of Columbia District Court’s dismissal on forum and procedural grounds. In a strongly worded opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, she wrote, “Winston Churchill described the brutal genocidal expropriations, deportations, and mass exterminations of Hungarian Jews at Nazi death camps as ‘probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the history of the world.’ The district court erred in declining to exercise statutorily conferred jurisdiction over the Survivors’ effort to obtain some measure of reparation for those injuries both by wrongly requiring them to adjudicate their claims in Hungary first, and by misapplying the law governing the forum non conveniens analysis.” The case is Simon v. Republic of Hungary.

December 2018: Eric Bryant and John C. “JR” Reith have been named co-chairs of Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston’s government relations division. For the past twenty-two legislative sessions, Mr. Bryant has been at the forefront of groundbreaking legal and policy initiatives in Maryland. His early government relations work focused on gaming, laying the foundation for his later successes on similarly complex issues, such as regulating online political advertising, legalizing ridesharing in Maryland, regulating peer-to-peer car sharing, and taxing online sales. Mr. Bryant has been active in federal, state, and local politics for nearly thirty years. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law. Mr. Reith, previously director of business development for the firm, served as co-chairman for two of former Governor Robert Ehrlich’s gubernatorial campaigns. He also served as a member of the inaugural committee for Governor Larry Hogan in 2015 and as co-chairman of the inaugural committee for Baltimore City Mayor Catherine Pugh in 2016. Mr. Reith has represented companies in Maryland on matters related to information technology, health care, energy, real estate, alcohol manufacturing, engineering, infrastructure, transportation, and procurement.

September 2018: Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston has had five of its attorneys featured in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers® in America including Arnold Weiner, for bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, and criminal defense: white-collar and professional malpractice law (plaintiffs); Aron Raskas, for commercial litigation; Barry Gogel , for professional malpractice law (plaintiffs); Ty Kelly, for criminal defense: white-collar;  and Jonathan Biran, for criminal defense: white-collar.

January 2018: Chuck Fax has been elected an equity partner at Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston. Mr. Fax is currently co-lead plaintiffs’ counsel in a nationwide class action against Whirlpool Corporation in which the trial court observed that “the [impressive] results obtained by class counsel . . . undoubtedly took the most capable and experienced professionals in the country,” and awarded approximately $15 million in attorneys’ fees. The decision is currently on appeal. He also serves as co-lead counsel in a putative worldwide class action brought on behalf of survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust in World War II, seeking reparations against the Hungarian government for its complicity in the Holocaust. A graduate of George Washington University Law School, Mr. Fax has taught federal and Maryland discovery practice and procedure at the University of Baltimore School of Law, and has been named a Washington, D.C., and Maryland “Super Lawyer”® for the past ten years. Also at Rifkin Weiner Livingston, Camille Fesche has joined the firm in its Annapolis office. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Georgetown University Law Center, Ms. Fesche will focus her practice on government relations and lobbying.

November 2017: Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston has combined with Biran Kelly LLC, a law firm with offices in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.  Biran Kelly’s principals, Jonathan Biran and Ty Kelly, and associate Alison Schurick will join Rifkin Weiner Livingston’s litigation group effective January 2, 2018. Mr. Biran and Ms. Kelly are both former Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and have both been recognized as Super Lawyers® in Maryland for each year of the last four years. They will be based in the firm’s Clipper Mill offices in Baltimore.

September 2017: Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston has filed an objection to a proposed settlement of a concussion-focused class-action suit on behalf of a former National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s lacrosse player, arguing that the settlement does not adequately protect college-level women lacrosse players from catastrophic head injuries. Samantha Greiber, an Annapolis, Maryland native, alleges that she suffers from permanent brain injuries resulting from two concussions she sustained while playing NCAA women’s lacrosse at Hofstra University. The firm wrote that the proposed settlement is not fair, reasonable or adequate because it would require women lacrosse players to release any claim they have to require the NCAA to mandate protective helmets for women lacrosse players or otherwise to educate NCAA institutions, coaches and players about the benefits of protective helmets. A hearing to determine the fairness of the proposed settlement has been set to take place in Chicago in November.

April 2017: Chuck Fax of Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston will address “The Future of Discovery” at the Lawyers for Civil Justice annual conference, which is being held May 4 and 5, 2017, at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C. Mr. Fax, who will be joined by Vanderbilt University law professor Brian Fitzpatrick, will discuss trending discovery topics such as the impact of proportionality, cost shifting and case management. His presentation will begin at 9:15 a.m. on May 4, following the conference’s keynote address, which will be delivered by Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Mr. Fax is co-author of Discovery Problems and Their Solutions, the fourth edition of which will be released next year.

February 2017: Maryland member firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston recently honored the distinguished public service careers of two of its earliest members by formally dedicating its Annapolis office conference rooms in their honor. Guests, including Maryland Senate President Mike Miller, paid tribute to the late Judge Edgar Silver and former Maryland state senator Laurence Levitan during a lunchtime reception at which ceremonial plaques and photos were unveiled in each of the conference rooms, honoring the two former name partners. A graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law, Judge Silver was elected to the General Assembly in 1954, where he served until 1965. Governor Tawes appointed him that year to the municipal bench, where he served until 1971. He subsequently was appointed to the district bench in 1971. In 1977, he was appointed to the circuit bench, where he served for the next 12 years. Senator Levitan served in the Maryland General Assembly for 23 years. He chaired the powerful Senate budget and taxation committee for the last 16 years of his tenure. He joined the firm in 1995, after leaving public life. Firm managing partner Alan Rifkin commented, “I am so pleased we are able dedicate these conference rooms in our Annapolis office to Larry and the Judge. From now on, and for as long as we are here, the firm, our clients and friends will know that, when meetings are held in the Silver conference room or the Levitan conference room, these are special places to us.”