Posted on September 05, 2026 in Sports, Entertainment & Gaming Law

By Ira Rainess, Sports, Entertainment, and Gaming Law Attorney

If you are a student athlete getting ready to go to college, you have probably heard the term "NIL" a lot lately. NIL stands for Name, Image, and Likeness. It is a legal concept that gives athletes the right to profit from their personal brand, identity, social media presence, and even their autograph.

Although student athletes can now benefit from their NIL and negotiate contracts with the NCAA, there are many risks. Students are often taken advantage of because they simply don’t understand the contracts they’re signing. Months or years later, this can expose them to real legal risk. 

Even students who begin their college athletic career with solid legal advice find things changing rapidly over the course of their college years. Our Maryland NIL sports law attorneys work with students and their families to watch out for the students’ best interests over the years. 

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 Posted on August 24, 2026 in Criminal Defense

By Marshall T. Henslee, Criminal Defense Attorney 

This June, Partner Marshall T. Henslee and Silverman Thompson’s criminal defense team secured a dismissal of all charges in Baltimore County Circuit Court against our client facing decades of jail time.

Our client was charged in the first case with the armed robbery of a business in Catonsville and was charged in the second case with armed home invasion and robbery of a hotel room in Catonsville four days later. Both crimes took place in January 2024.

Between the two cases, our client faced a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a possible maximum sentence of 279 years. He went from the potential of life in prison to facing no charges.

After a careful review of the evidence, Attorney Henslee had reason to believe our client was innocent. Once he met with witnesses and collected evidence, he met directly with the prosecutor and disclosed what he had found, persuading the prosecutor to make an honest evaluation of our client’s case. After that evaluation, the prosecutor decided to drop all charges against our client.

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 Posted on August 18, 2026 in Medical Malpractice

Pregnancy, and labor and delivery, can involve serious complications, even when doctors and nurses give both mother and baby diligent care. A difficult pregnancy or birth, or even a tragic outcome, does not necessarily mean a provider did anything wrong. 

Yet, medical malpractice does happen during pregnancy and in labor and delivery wards, and the consequences can be devastating. If you or your child suffered a serious birth injury in 2026, Silverman Thompson’s team of experienced Howard County, MD personal injury attorneys can help you understand who may be legally responsible. We provide compassionate legal service to families during sensitive times and are relentlessly focused on holding careless providers responsible. 

Can You Sue the Doctor for a Birth Injury?

An obstetrician is the doctor responsible for the pregnancy and for delivering babies. Obstetricians make important decisions, including when and how to intervene when things aren’t going right. A birth injury claim might involve a doctor who:

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 Posted on August 13, 2026 in Divorce

So many of us use social media every day that we don’t think twice about what we’re sharing. It’s a natural place to update friends and family about important life events or share photos from trips and social events.

Although social media can feel casual, during a divorce and really in most types of litigation, posts and photos can be used as evidence. A picture from a vacation, a post about a new car, or location tags at expensive restaurants may tell a different financial story from the one someone is presenting in court, even if it is not completely accurate.

Exercising caution about social media is important – both during the divorce itself and even in the aftermath - especially when parties disagree about income, alimony, or child support. And your social media posts can potentially remain just as relevant months or years later if one spouse or co-parent asks the court to change an existing order.

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 Posted on August 06, 2026 in Appeals - State & Federal

In July 2026, Bill Sinclair, Todd Hesel and Christopher Mincher persuaded the Supreme Court of Maryland to grant certiorari review on behalf of our client, Henry Porter, in a dispute over his ouster from an LLC he co-founded and co-owned.

Certiorari review is the mechanism through which the Maryland Supreme Court grants discretionary review of decisions by the Maryland intermediate appellate court.  Although certiorari review is relatively rare — roughly four out of every five petitions are denied — our client’s case marks the third consecutive year in which Silverman Thompson will argue before the Maryland Supreme Court.

This case began in 2018 when Mr. Porter’s fellow board members and co-owners voted him out of their LLC, which operated a medical marijuana dispensary.  A dispute over the legitimacy of that ouster led Mr. Porter’s co-founders to sue him, and to a countersuit by Mr. Porter. The lawsuits culminated in a 17-day bench trial over the summer of 2021 and a declaratory judgment affirming our client’s dissociation from the LLC.

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 Posted on August 01, 2026 in Administrative Law/Defense of Professionals

Recent Maryland news reports have shared stories of private contractors who try to evict squatters and/or unauthorized occupants of residential property through what they describe as "street justice." Tactics include removing doors or windows, towing vehicles, and otherwise trying to pressure the occupants into leaving.

For property owners, landlords and/or residential property management companies, these methods create serious legal and safety risks. Even when occupants have no legal right to be in a home or apartment, there is major risk when a property manager contracts a third party to force people out without using the legal system.

When police refuse to remove someone from a property because the person falsely claims residency or shows police a fabricated lease, the best response is usually a wrongful detainer action. A Baltimore landlord-tenant dispute attorney can help landlords and management companies decide which legal avenues are best to get back possession of your property.

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 Posted on July 21, 2026 in Estates, Trusts, Probate & Fiduciary Litigation

Edward P. Parent, Partner at Silverman Thompson, Fiduciary Litigation Practice

A sudden or unexpected change to a loved one’s will raises serious questions. Perhaps one family member received nearly everything after becoming deeply involved in the deceased person’s care. Maybe the new will was signed while the deceased person was sick, isolated, or vulnerable.

These situations do not automatically prove someone did anything wrong. However, they may support a claim that a will was created through undue influence.

Undue influence occurs when someone uses pressure or control to overcome another person’s free choice when writing a will. The final will then reflects what the influencer wanted, rather than the true wishes of the person who died.

If you are facing a case involving allegations of undue influence on a will or other part of an estate plan in 2026, speak with a Baltimore probate litigation lawyer at Silverman Thompson right away.

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 Posted on July 16, 2026 in Medical Malpractice

Hospitals don’t need to keep every patient until every symptom gets better. Still, they need to take care before sending a patient home. A hospital should review the patient’s condition, test results, and vital signs. There should be a careful assessment of the patient’s likely ability to recover safely outside the hospital.

If hospital or emergency room staff send a patient home before it’s safe and the patient is seriously hurt or dies as a result, it could be hospital malpractice. These cases are difficult, though, because a bad outcome alone doesn’t prove malpractice occurred.

Several critical questions need to be answered: Did the hospital provide the level of care that they should have? Were there clear signs that the patient needed further critical care? Did hospital staff adequately communicate with each other when discharging the patient? 

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 Posted on July 11, 2026 in Business Counseling, Litigation & Transactions

A default judgment can put a property or business at serious risk. When a defendant fails to respond to a lawsuit or appear in court on time, the court may decide the case without hearing that party’s side of the case. Depending on the dispute, the judgment could impose substantial financial liability, allow a creditor to seize assets, or even place commercial property at risk of foreclosure.

Fortunately, a default judgment is not always the end of a case. A property owner may be able to ask the court to vacate the judgment, but Virginia’s deadlines are exceptionally strict.

Silverman Thompson’s Virginia practice recently obtained an order vacating a default judgment on a mechanic’s lien action that threatened a valuable 15-story office building. Attorney Pierce Murphy was retained late in the afternoon on the twentieth day after the judgment had been entered. He quickly prepared and filed the motion the next morning, arguing that Virginia Code §43-20 does not allow a court to place a mechanic’s lien against a property owner if the owner’s tenant was the party who ordered the work giving rise to the lien, and that the resulting judgment was void.

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 Posted on July 07, 2026 in Family Law

For many parents of young children, it can feel like summer has only just begun when suddenly it’s time to start thinking about going back to school. When divorced parents share custody, back-to-school season can bring tricky questions about school supplies, extracurricular activities, parent-teacher conferences, holidays, and who is responsible for paying different expenses. Even simple issues can feel like a landmine of potential conflict.

The best way to prevent unnecessary fighting is to deal with these issues as much as you can before the school year gets going. Even with careful planning, however, disagreements about sensitive family circumstances cannot always be resolved privately.

Here are some things to consider doing before the 26-27 school year starts. Our Annapolis family law attorneys can help you understand your rights and, if necessary, provide guidance and support in potential legal options such as petitioning for a child custody modification, filing for contempt or enforcement, complying with mediation provisions, or seeking a parent coordinator.

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