We’re proud to announce that Shapiro Sher was recently honored with the Pillar of Justice Award by Maryland Legal Aid. This award recognizes firms that have raised critically needed funds for Maryland Legal Aid to promote equal access to justice, while also serving as dedicated advocates who raise awareness of the organization’s important work. Through decades of pro bono representation, community engagement, and advocacy, our attorneys have worked to protect the rights of Marylanders in need.

We thank Maryland Legal Aid for this meaningful honor and for their continued leadership in advancing equal justice across our state.

Maryland Carey Law Summer 2024 Magazine

The Maryland Carey Law Summer 2024 Magazine highlights the important work of The Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law, named after our esteemed Of Counsel Larry S. Gibson and Taunya Lovell Banks, both legendary and influential legal scholars and the first Black man and Black woman to become tenured full professors at the law school.

A historian of the civil rights movement, Larry authored Young Thurgood, a detailed biography studying Thurgood Marshall’s early years in Maryland. He is working on the companion volume, which will examine Marshall’s life from 1938 to 1954. Rather than format the book chronologically, Gibson tells Marshall’s story geographically with chapters on each of the Southern states where Marshall made an impact.

While non-compete agreements have historically been viewed as a means to protect a businesses’ proprietary information, the Federal Trade Commission has recently, with the support of numerous states, finalized a rule determining that non-compete agreements are an unfair method of competition and violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”).

The final rule[1], passed on April 24, 2024, and set to go into effect on September 4, 2024 (“effective date”), prohibits employers from entering into new non-compete agreements after the effective date. The rule also prohibits employers from enforcing existing non-compete agreements with any employee who is not a senior executive[2]. Additionally, the rule requires that employers notify all workers that their non-compete agreements are no longer in effect and will not be enforced[3]. Any violation of this rule may be reported to the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC may thereafter initiate investigations and bring enforcement actions against employers for violations of the rule. The use of a non-compete agreement may expose the business to FTC action and/or civil tort claims from aggrieved employees.

Currently, there are lawsuits pending in multiple jurisdictions challenging the FTC’s authority to enact this ban on non-compete agreements. Businesses and employers should follow the course of the litigation surrounding the enactment of the rule and prepare to send the required notices, should the rule remain intact, by the effective date, September 4, 2024.

A link to the full text of the final rule may be found here: Federal Register :: Non-Compete Clause Rule.

[1] 16 CFR § 910.2 and § 910.6

[2] A “senior executive” is defined as a worker who earns more than $151,164.00 annually who is in a “policy-making position.” Less than 1% of workers are estimated to be “senior executives” under the new rule.

[3] The FTC has provided model language that employers may use to notify their employees.

Shapiro Sher warmly congratulates our long-time Of Counsel Larry S. Gibson on the establishment of the Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

Over the years, Larry has been bestowed with many honors in recognition of his groundbreaking career in civil rights law and Maryland politics, but the creation of a center in his name is especially meaningful. Committed to improving the lives of those impacted by historical and modern-day racial oppression, the new center will enact the very values that have long motivated Larry in his efforts on behalf of civil rights and racial justice. As a law professor over the past five decades, he has mentored generations of future leaders at the University of Maryland. As a political advisor, he has aided the historic ascent of numerous Black politicians at the local, state, and international levels. Finally, as a leading scholar on the life and work of Thurgood Marshall, Larry has shed new light on this pivotal figure in his biography Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice. 

The Center is also named in honor of Taunya Lovell Banks, a legendary and influential legal scholar and the first tenured Black woman on the University of Maryland law school faculty. We congratulate Ms. Lovell Banks as well, and we look forward to the future success of the Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law.

This year’s Chambers USA identifies five of our firm’s attorneys and two of our practice groups in its annual roundup of leading Maryland lawyers and law firms.

The following attorneys are cited in their respective practice areas:

Alex J. Brown – Insurance
William E. Carlson – Corporate/M&A and REITs: Maryland Counsel
Richard M. Goldberg – Bankruptcy/Restructuring
Paul Mark Sandler – Litigation: General Commercial (Senior Statesperson)
Joel I. Sher – Bankruptcy/Restructuring

The guide also names Shapiro Sher in select lists of Maryland firms practicing bankruptcy and insurance law.

Chambers USA is a division of Chambers & Partners, which publishes selective annual guides to the most respected law firms and lawyers in the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Its rankings are read by industry-leading companies and organizations worldwide.