Edmund J. O'Meally

Mr. O’Meally is an equity member of the labor and education department at PK Law, and has worked closely with superintendents, boards of education, private schools, and private sector employers for over 33 years on a wide-variety of matters including collective bargaining, employment litigation, student discipline and special education, drug and alcohol issues, construction and procurement issues, and Open Meetings Act compliance. A 1984 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law where he served as Executive Editor of the Maryland Law Review, Mr. O’Meally clerked for the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upon his graduation. Mr. O’Meally is an Adjunct Professor of School Law at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, McDaniel College, and Morgan State University and has given numerous presentations on employment and education issues for the North American Association of Education Negotiators, the Education Law Association, the  Maryland Association of Boards of Education, the Maryland Negotiations Service, the Association of School Business Officials, the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland, the Office of Administrative Hearings, MICPEL, and other groups. Since 2006, Mr. O’Meally has authored the chapters on “Employee Relations and Rights” and “Employee Discipline and Discharge” in the annual editions of the Maryland School Law Deskbook published by LexisNexis. Most recently, Mr. O’Meally was the chief negotiator of the innovative performance based collective bargaining agreement between Baltimore City and the Baltimore Teachers Union as well as several other performance based collective bargaining agreements for non-certificated employees.  Mr. O’Meally is one of the few negotiators in the country who has successfully negotiated this type of agreement and is available to serve as a consultant or negotiator to school systems across the country.

Mr. O’Meally is available to speak on a variety of labor and education issues, including his experience negotiating performance based collective bargaining agreements.

Personal Information

Education

• University of Maryland School of Law, J.D. May 1984
• Tulane University School of Law, New Orleans, Louisiana 70115 (1981-82)
• Frostburg State College, Frostburg, Maryland (1980-81), Completed thirty credits towards Master of Arts in Modern humanities prior to enrolling in law school.
• Frostburg State College, B.A. May 1980, Major: Political Science, Minor: English; Language: 3 years of Russian

Bar Admission

• Court of Appeals of Maryland, January 1985
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, June 1985
• United States District Court for the District of Maryland, July 1986

Bar Associations

• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Maryland State Bar Association.

Additional Information

• Judicial Law Clerk
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• United States Courthouse, Richmond, Virginia 23219
• Teaching Experience:
  Adjunct Instructor – School Law
  McDaniel College
  2 College Hill
  Westminster, Maryland 21157
• Adjunct Instructor – School Law
  Goucher College
  1021 Dulaney Valley Road
  Towson, Maryland 21204-2794
• Adjunct Instructor – School Law
  Johns Hopkins University
  3400 N. Charles Street
  Baltimore, Maryland 21218
• Selected to The Best Lawyers in America^®  for Education Law 2012-2020
• Best Lawyers in America – Education Law: Baltimore Area – Lawyer of the Year 2018 and 2020
• Selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers, 2016, 2019
• Member, National School Boards Association Council of School Attorneys
• Member, Maryland Council of Local School Board Attorneys
• Distinguished Service Award, Maryland Negotiation Service (October, 2005)
• Member of Winning Team, Literacy Council of Carroll County “Forth Anyule Spelin Be” (1999)
• Most Outstanding Young Westminster Resident, Westminster Jaycees (1997)
• Selected for Membership, Maryland Law Review (1982-83)
• Appointed Executive Editor, Maryland Law Review (1983-84)
• Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society, (1980)
• Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society (1980)
• AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell
• Received “Instructor of the Year” award from the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission (2015)

AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell

Published Articles

• In Defense of 24/7 Extracurricular Eligibility Policies, Inquiry & Analysis (NSBA Council of School Attorneys, July 2007)
• Co-Author – Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2012-2013 edition)
• Co-Author – Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2011-2012 edition)
• Co-Author – Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2010-2011 edition)
• Co-Author – Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2009-2010 edition)
• Co-Author – Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2008-2009 edition)
• Co-Author – Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2007-2008 edition)
• Co-Author – Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2006 edition)
• Student Discipline, in Violence in Schools (Professional Development Network, Feb. 11, 2000)
• Maryland Special Education Procedural Safeguards, in Special Education Law in Maryland: Navigating the New Regulations (Professional Development Network, Dec. 8, 1999)
• Teacher Recruitment and Shortages: Legal and Collective Bargaining Implications, presented at combined meeting of Maryland Negotiation Service and Maryland-District of Columbia Association of School Business Officials, Annapolis, Maryland (Nov. 19, 1999)
• Searches of Maryland Students: Fighting the War On Weapons and Drugs in our Public Schools, at Public Schools After Littleton: The Legal Aspects of School Violence Seminar, Linthicum, Maryland (Sept. 17, 1999)
• Sexual Harassment in the Public Schools, in 13th Annual Education Law Institute (The Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers, Inc. “MICPEL”, June 26, 1998)
• First Amendment and Other Constitutional Issues, in School Law in Maryland (National Business Institute, February 24, 1998)
• Religion in the Public Schools: Maintaining the Neutral Balance, in Current Issues in Education Law in Maryland (National Business Institute, August 26, 1997)

Community Involvement

• Board Member,  Westminster YMCA
• Webelos Den Leader – Cub Scout Pack 150, Gamber, Maryland.
• Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Salvation Army, Carroll County Service Center
• Former Chairman of the Board and President, Westminster Jaycees, Inc.
• Former State Legal Director, Maryland Jaycees, Inc.
• Former Member of the Board of Directors for Dulaney Station, Inc. (a division of Sheppard Pratt Health System)
• Former Member of the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement – Carroll County
• Vice-Chairman Frostburg State College Senate (1979-80)
• Frostburg State College Student Government Director of Forum Affairs (1979-80)

Best Lawyers

Best Lawyers in America – Education Law: Baltimore Area – Lawyer of the Year 2018, 2020

Education Law

Super Lawyers

2016, 2019-2020