Drake Zaharris And James R. Benjamin, Jr. To Be Maryland Bar Fellows

Hodes, Pessin & Katz, P. A. (HPK) is pleased to announce that Managing Director, Drake Zaharris, and Member, James R. Benjamin, Jr., have been invited to join the Maryland Bar Foundation (The Foundation) as Fellows. The induction ceremony will be held at the 2011 Maryland State Bar Association Annual Meeting and Reception on Thursday, June 9, 2011. The Foundation was created in 1965 to foster and maintain the honor and integrity of the legal profession, improve and facilitate the administration of justice, and promote the continuing education of lawyers. Qualifications of a Fellow include outstanding dedication and contribution to maintaining the honor and integrity of the legal profession, and the improvement and facilitation of justice and civic leadership. Membership as a regular Fellow is limited to not more than 2.5% of the MSBA membership. Mr. Zaharris has been the Managing Director of HPK since 2007. He has an active corporate litigation and business practice, working primarily with individual entrepreneurs and business owners in complex commercial litigation, contract disputes, construction and financing litigation, purchase and sale of businesses, and business formation and financing. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Living Classrooms Foundation, and formerly served on the Board for the Children’s Guild and the Baltimore County Development Corporation. Mr. Benjamin concentrates his practice in litigation, primarily representing insurers and business entities in personal injury and premises liability and health care providers in medical malpractice defense matters. Mr. Benjamin also represents property owners in Baltimore City in complex lead paint and toxic tort litigation and has significant experience representing and advising minority-owned and women-owned businesses (MBEs and WBEs). He is currently a Board Member for the Pro Bono Resource Center and the University of Maryland School of Law Alumni Association, and is a former Board Member of the City of Baltimore’s Minority and Women’s Business Opportunity Office’s Certification Appeals Board.