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Linda D. Schwartz
Principal
(301) 951-9358
(301) 654-0165 fax
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Linda D. Schwartz chairs the firm’s Professional Ethics & Discipline practice group and is also a member of the Estate Planning, Estate/Trust Administration, Business/Commercial Transactions, Financial Services and Real Estate groups. She has considerable experience in complex real estate and commercial transactions, business planning, executive succession planning, and estate planning and administration for both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens. For more than 30 years, she has served as counsel to prominent national, regional and local developers and business owners. Ms. Schwartz also has been designated and spent more than 20 years as recommended counsel to assist with estate planning, estate administration and commercial transactional needs of staff members of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other affiliated organizations. In 2006, she was elected to the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.
Throughout her legal career, Ms. Schwartz has been active in public service. She is a former Assistant Attorney General of Maryland and was appointed in 1997 by the Court of Appeals of Maryland to serve as a member of the State Board of Law Examiners. She also served as a member of the Character Committee of the Court of Appeals for two terms (1985-1990 and 1997), and was a member of the Inquiry Panel of the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland from 1985-1989.
In 2002, 2004 and 2006, The Daily Record, a Maryland legal and business newspaper, designated Ms. Schwartz as one of the Top 100 Women in Maryland in recognition of both her professional achievements and community contributions and inducted her into the Circle of Excellence in 2006. In addition, she has been the recipient of several other awards, including the 10th Annual Award for Professionalism in 2000 and the Community Service Award in 1992, both from the Montgomery County Bar Association.
Ms. Schwartz has contributed significantly to the advancement of legal ethics as a member of the Committee on Ethics of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) for more than two decades, including two years (2005-2006) as the chair of that committee. She also was appointed to the MSBA’s Ethics 2000 Committee, the Multidisciplinary Practice Task Force and the Ethical Considerations Subcommittee of the Committee on Lawyer’s Opinions in Commercial Transactions (1989). She has taught legal ethics as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Washington College of Law at American University and has consulted with numerous law firms and attorneys, frequently being asked to serve as an expert witness in both real estate and professional conduct matters.
Since 1990, Ms. Schwartz has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Bar Foundation. Her community service resume includes five years (1995-2000) on the Board of Directors of the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in Rockville, Md. and co-chair of the Planned Giving Committee in 1995-1996. She also served as a member of the Women’s Advisory Board of New York Life Insurance Company from 1998-2000 and recently was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Holy Cross Hospital Foundation in Silver Spring, Md.
A frequent lecturer, Ms. Schwartz has made presentations to both professional and general audiences on the wide range of topics within her areas of concentration, including estate planning and administration for foreign nationals, business and real estate transactions, ethics and the financing, development, leasing and management of real property interests.
Ms. Schwartz received her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from the University of Maryland and her J.D. from the Washington College of Law at American University, where she also served as Court Note Editor of Law Review, which published her Comment on title abstractor’s liability in 22 AM. U.L. Rev.455 (1972-1973). She is a member of the Bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Education
J.D., American University, Washington College of Law, 1973
B.A., Cum Laude, University of Maryland, 1970
Publications
Comment on Title Abstractor’s Liability, 22 Am. U. L. Rev. 455, 1972-1973
Contributing author, Basic Estate Tax Planning, Chapter 4, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers, 2005
The Roots of Legal Ethics, co-written with Kay B. Bushel, Maryland Bar Journal, Volume XXXX, January 2007
Speeches and Presentations
Adjunct Professor of Law, Legal Ethics, Washington College of Law, American University Community-based and continuing legal education programs for numerous organizations
Chair and Lecturer, Maryland Institute for the Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers