I am a Maryland native, who was born in Silver Spring in 1967.  Our firm is a family firm, my father has practiced with great success and professional recognition since 1973.  I was lucky to be able to see excellent lawyers in practice from an early age so I learned that this business requires you to commit yourself to solving your clients' problems.  You can't do this job well if you don't like people and have a genuine empathy concerning their situations.  That is the first requirement of being a good lawyer.   Knowing how to solve their problems is the second requirement.  When you can do both, people remember that you did exactly what you said you would do and that you respected and cared about their problems as if they were your own.