Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Our office has nearly 20 years of experience that we use to help you with the following matters:

FAMILY LAW *Divorce *Custody *Property *Domestic violence *Modifications of past decrees *Contempt cases

EMPLOYMENT LAW *State and Federal claims *Discrimination (race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, etc.) *Harassment *Wrongful termination *Retaliation *Whistleblowing *FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)

BUSINESS LAW *Business Formation and Incorporation *LLCs *Corporations - include Stock, Nonstock, Close *Articles of Incorporation *Contract Creation and Review *General Counsel - Preventative legal counsel and representation in the courts on general matters confronting the small business *Employer Litigation Defense *Employee Handbooks *Employee Training - Small and large groups


BIOGRAPHY

Michelle Davy, Esquire is the Principal and Managing Attorney of The Davy Law Firm Inc.

A 1988 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, Ms. Davy has focused her practice in the areas of Family, Divorce, Child Custody, Child Support, Matrimonial, Employment and Small Business law counseling, representation and litigation in the Maryland and District of Columbia metropolitan area courts since 1990.

During her nearly 20 year career, Ms. Davy has served in both the private and public sectors, representing a wide variety of litigants in complex and sensitive matters, from both the plaintiff and defense posture. She has served as an Assistant Attorney General for the D.C. government, Counsel and Attorney-Advisor with the federal government, and as a Senior Associate and Principal in Washington, D.C. area law firms.

Ms. Davy is a member of the state and federal courts of Maryland, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania, and the United States Supreme Court, the Maryland State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

The proud mother of two, Ms. Davy is highly experienced in managing and resolving the various legal problems that can affect families and small businesses, and devoted to providing her clients with the aggressive, expert and comprehensive legal services they need and deserve.

Call Attorney Davy at (240) 744-4636 for caring and prompt legal help with your small business, family or employment matter today. Or e-mail Attorney Davy at help@davylawfirm.com today to discuss how we can help you protect yourself and your family.

Mr. McManus has been practicing law for twenty years, and for the past ten years he has been a partner at the firm. He began his career as a law clerk for Judge Joseph Mattingly in St. Mary's County Maryland and then worked as a prosecutor in both St. Mary's and Prince George's County. His more noteworthy criminal cases include:

* In 1985, Michael John Desasrno was convicted of sexual child abuse for acts committed by the former highschool wrestling coach while acting in the capacity as a wrestling coach.

* In 1987, Mr. McManus successfully prosecuted Willie Horton for beating and raping an Oxon Hill woman. The case received national media attention in the 1988 presidential election between George Bush and Michael Dukakis. Willie Horton, serving a life sentence for murder, escaped from a Massachusetts prison furlough program to commit the rape, while Mr. Dukakis was governor of the state.

* In 1988, Mr. McManus convicted a trucker for Motor Vehicle manslaughter in the 1986 deaths of two highschool girls in Riverdale. A truck with 18 safety defects carrying hot asphalt stalled at the top of a hill and rolled into a car occupied by three highschool girls. One was severely injured and the other two died when nearly 14,000 pounds of hot asphalt was dumped on the car.

Mr. McManus has developed a reputation as one of the premier personal injury attorneys in Southern Maryland. He has successfully represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a number of major truck accident cases, and developed a specialty in negotiating complex personal injury settlements. Mr. McManus has lectured, along side several judges, at multiple personal injury seminars for lawyers. An 'AV' rated attorney, he is a member of the American Bar Foundation, the Maryland State Bar Foundation, the Governor's Trial Courts Nominating Commission, and has chaired or co-chaired the local bar's Tort Law Sub-Committee for the past seven years.

George P. Patterson is a partner at the firm of Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher. Mr. Patterson has been lead counsel on over 1,000 trials, recovering millions of dollars on behalf of his clients. He has successfully handled over a dozen wrongful death cases along with hundreds of cases involving permanent personal injuries.

Mr. Patterson presides over a diverse personal injury practice that not only focuses on litigation and medical malpractice, but on the investigation of complex medical conditions such as traumatic brain injuries, complex bone fractures, laminectomies, disc fusions, growth plate fractures, carpal tunnel surgeries, fibromyalgia and whiplash injuries. He is widely recognized for his ability to obtain substantial settlements for his clients across a broad spectrum of practice areas.

Early in Mr. Patterson's career, he obtained dozens of defense verdicts in personal injury jury trials. He has built on this experience to properly present plaintiffs' claims and to avoid tactical mistakes made by plaintiffs' attorneys.

Some of his more noteworthy cases include:


In a Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) case, Mr. Patterson was able to obtain a resolution in the case in Federal Court for $587,500. The defense questioned the seriousness of the disorder but was persuaded by a report from an internationally renowned expert on (RSD) hired by Mr. Patterson.

In a wrongful death case, Mr. Patterson was hired by a family who lost their son in a tragic single car accident. The son was a passenger in the car that had only $20,000 in coverage. The family's insurance company then refused to honor a claim for underinsured motorist benefits, claiming the family had only purchased minimum coverage. Mr. Patterson investigated the insurance records and discovered the company had failed to obtain a signed waiver for the reduced coverage. As a result, Mr. Patterson obtained a $500,000 recovery.

Mr. Patterson obtained a $310,000 settlement on behalf of a client who sustained a neck injury requiring surgery. The settlement was obtained after the defendant retained a medical expert to argue that the neck surgery was due to a pre-existing condition.

Mr. Patterson resolved a fall case for $140,000. The client fell at a grocery store and broke her knee cap. The client had medical bills of approximately $14,000. There was no offer prior to filing suit.

Mr. Patterson represented a client who suffered a facial laceration in an automobile accident. The insurance company offered the uncompensated man a "final" settlement of $20,000. Mr. Patterson was hired to take over the case and received a settlement of $75,000 for his client.

Mr. Patterson represented a client who checked into a hotel only to be awakened in the middle of the night by an intruder who had previously worked for the hotel and entered with a room key. His client successfully attacked the intruder without sustaining any injury other than some sore knuckles. Mr. Patterson obtained a $75,000 settlement on behalf of his client.

Mr. Patterson represented a client who initially tried to settle the case on his own and was offered "final" settlement of $10,000 with less than one week before the statute of limitations was set to expire. Upon being retained, the insurance company increased the offer to $25,000. Mr. Patterson filed suit and attained an agreement by which an arbitrator could award up to $60,000 to the client.

Mr. Patterson represented a client in a low-impact crash with minimal damage. The insurance company offered the client $181.50 to settle the case. Mr. Patterson took the case to trial and his client was awarded $18,000.

Mr. Patterson graduated from DePauw University with a double major in economics and philosophy and magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

Paul J. Reinstein is a partner at the firm of Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher. Mr. Reinstein is widely recognized by his clients and peers as one of the premier domestic law attorneys in the Washington Metropolitan area.

Mr. Reinstein has been named by publications including Washingtonian Magazine, Washington D.C. Super Lawyers, and the Washington Post, as one of the top family law practitioners in the Washington Metropolitan Area. In February, 2009, Mr. Reinstein was named one of the 88 top divorce lawyers in the entire Washington Metropolitan area.

Mr. Reinstein is one of only 29 fellows in the Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) www.aaml.org and the only one in the Southern Maryland Area. An AV rated attorney, Mr. Reinstein is an annual presenter at the AAML's Institute For Family Law Associates course each year in Chicago.

Mr. Reinstein lectures frequently throughout the state on current issues in family law, as well as before the Administrative Office of the Court's Judicial Institute. He is a past Chair of the Maryland State Bar Association Family and Juvenile Law Section. He teaches continuing legal education courses to attorneys for the Maryland State Bar Association and the Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers.

Mr. Reinstein also serves as an arbitrator and mediator for the courts in multiple jurisdictions.

Prior to joining Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher, he was a founding partner in the law firm of Keiffer, Johnston & Reinstein.

He is a graduate cum laude of Villanova University and the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America.

Randall S. Herriott is a partner at the firm of Sasscer, Clagett and Bucher. Mr. Herriott concentrates his practice in the area of Family Law.

Mr. Herriott is well known for successfully representing clients in matters involving the issues of divorce, custody and visitation, child support, alimony, property distribution and domestic
violence.

In 2008, Mr. Herriott successfully litigated numerous cases involving parties who were seeking the legal and physical custody of their children. In his practice, Mr. Herriott has also successfully
litigated several third-party custody actions, where non-parent relatives were granted custody of their minor child relatives.

Mr. Herriott is also trained in the area of Collaborative Law, an innovative approach to resolving family law issues that fosters and promotes communication and cooperation between the parties and counsel. The Collaborative Law approach seeks a more constructive and respectful path to resolution in a manner that is private, focused on the needs of the clients and/or their children, and puts control of the outcome in the hands of the clients, rather than the courts. Additional information regarding the collaborative approach to resolving family law cases may be viewed at www.fairdivorcemaryland.com, www.marylandcollaborativepractice.com, and www.collaborativepractice.com.

Mr. Herriott is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he graduated with honors.