Gil
Genn
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| Gil, with Speaker
Mitchell, is sworn in as a member of the
Maryland House of Delegates on January
14, 1987. He
served three terms until January 1999 when
he decided not to run for re-election. |
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Mr. Genn focuses his practice on representing corporate
and individual clients before federal, state, and
local legislative and regulatory bodies as well as
in the courts.
His areas of representation include, among others,
appropriations, transportation, procurement, telecommunications,
wireless telephony, energy and utility restructuring,
PSC regulation, corporate law, labor, health care,
pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, biometrics, criminal
law and security issues, municipal matters, environmental
law, education, medical malpractice, product liability,
election law, intellectual property rights, copyright
and trademarks, software licensing, and Internet
law emphasizing First Amendment, encryption, privacy,
taxation and gambling (gaming) issues. Mr.
Genn’s
clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as “incubator” firms
and those seeking venture capital.
Mr. Genn represented the 16th Legislative District
in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1987 until
1999 when he voluntarily decided not to seek re-election
to return to the private sector. Upon Mr. Genn’s
departure from the Legislature, the local paper said, “Montgomery
County (Maryland’s largest county with 895,000
residents) loses perhaps its most passionate and
aggressive lawmaker.”
Mr. Genn authored dozens of legislative initiatives,
now law. The National Conference of State Legislatures
(NCSL) noted some as successful first-in-the-nation
efforts. They include the first state statute in
1988 to allow for the admissibility of DNA evidence
in criminal matters; and the requirement for the
police to report all moving motor vehicle violations,
including fatalities, committed by Diplomats entitled
to Diplomatic Immunity, to the U.S. Department of
State for sanctions, among many others.
During his term, Mr. Genn was Chair of the House
Judiciary Criminal Justice Subcommittee and served
8 years together with then Delegate, now former Governor
Bob Ehrlich, on the House Judiciary Committee. In addition,
Mr. Genn’s colleagues from his 16th Legislative
District are former Delegate Nancy Kopp, the current
State Treasurer and Senator Brian Frosh, Chairman of
the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Gil's first term seatmate is the Comptroller, Peter Franchot. Both Kopp and Franchot are two of the three votes, in addition to Governor O'Malley, on the State Board of Public Works voting on final authorization of all substantial State Contracts and Investments.
Through Mr. Genn’s procurement expertise,
his client, Diebold Election Systems, Inc., secured
the largest touch screen voting contract in the U.S.
to date --- a $56 Million contract for the entire
State of Maryland for the 2004 Election with option
years.
Mr. Genn’s wide-ranging experience includes
extensive trial and appellate advocacy. He
was successful criminal defense trial counsel in
one of the most sensational double murder cases in
the Washington suburbs in the 1990’s resulting
in a full jury acquittal of an Armenian shop owner.
Mr. Genn also represented an African-American federal
government employee who was wrongfully arrested and
imprisoned and charged with robbery and attempted
murder. The result was the largest jury verdict
in the U.S. District Court of Maryland on a single
count of violating an innocent person’s constitutional
rights. He also obtained a unanimous reversal
from Maryland’s highest court declaring Maryland’s
statutory law, which permitted the judge and state
to deny a defendant a jury trial right in the first
instance, as unconstitutional and in violation of
everyone’s fundamental right to a jury trial.
Mr. Genn has been successfully involved in administrative
and regulatory actions at the EPA and represented
the General Contractor in receiving a substantial
judgment against the GSA during the construction
of a federal office building. Mr. Genn’s
experience also includes estates, trusts, Health
Care Powers of Attorney and Advance Medical Directives
and he has successfully litigated product liability
and personal injury cases.
Mr. Genn has also received numerous awards for his
legislative and community service, including being
honored at a White House ceremony and receiving the “1995
Legislator of the Year” award by the National
Commission Against Drunk Driving (formerly the President’s
Commission Against Drunk Driving). Between
1991-2003, Mr. Genn served as an Executive Board
member of the Maryland Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation. Mr. Genn also served as Legislative
Aide to U.S. Senator Birch Bayh (1974-75).
Mr. Genn has received Martindale Hubbell’s
highest attorney rating, “AV.” Mr. Genn
is a member of the D.C. Bar, Maryland State Bar and
the U.S. District Courts and Federal Circuit Courts
for D. C. and Maryland.
Mr. Genn received his B.A., magna cum laude,
from Duke University in 1974 and his J.D. from the
University of Maryland Law School in 1978, receiving
the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement
and Service. Mr. Genn was the Editor-in-Chief of
the International Law Journal in 1978 and
the author of, “Post-War Law Providing for
Restitution of Identifiable Property Seized by Nazi
Government,” ILJ, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1977). |
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Donald E. Murphy
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| Don, with Speaker Cas Taylor, is sworn
in as a member of the Maryland House
of Delegates on January 11, 1995 after
defeating the Majority Leader in the
1994 election. Ironically, Don
successfully worked to defeat Speaker
Taylor in 2002. |
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Donald E. Murphy served 8 years as a member of the
House Judiciary Committee in the Maryland General
Assembly. Mr. Murphy was elected to office
in his first election in 1994, defeating the House
Majority Leader in a legislative district that had
never elected a Republican.
Prior to running for office, Mr. Murphy held key
positions in the commercial real estate field, including
real estate analyst for Baltimore City’s Economic
Development office and as Director of Leasing for
a million square foot office and industrial park.
During his years in the commercial real estate field,
Mr. Murphy was a member of the National Association
of Industrial Office Parks (NAIOP) and the Building
Owners & Managers Association (BOMA). In
1994, Mr. Murphy received his Real Property Administrators
(RPA) designation from the Building Owners & Management
Institute (BOMI). In 1998, Mr. Murphy received
his designation as a Certified Manager of Community
Associations (CMCA) by the Community Association
Institute (CAI). Between 1999 and 2002, Mr.
Murphy worked for Columbia Bank and Columbia National
in their Mortgage Banking Division as a Loan Originator.
After his reelection in 1998, he became an unlikely
advocate for Medical Marijuana legislation as a result
of being approached by a Green Beret constituent
who was dying of cancer. The passage of the
Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act in 2003 placed
Mr. Murphy in exclusive company with substantial
national media recognition. When The Washington
Post, The Baltimore Sun and The Gazette listed their “winners
and losers” for the Legislative Session, he
was one of three, and the only non-incumbent legislator,
named to the “winners” list in all three
publications.
In the spring of 2000, after co-chairing the McCain
campaign in Maryland, Mr. Murphy was elected At Large
Delegate to the Republican National Convention in
Philadelphia.
In 2004, Mr. Murphy also attended the Republican
National Convention in New York City with his wife,
Gloria Murphy, a Republican Party official, who was
elected as a Bush Delegate to the Convention.
In 2001, Mr. Murphy traveled to Viet Nam at the
request of the U.S. Department of State and the American
Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) as part
of an exclusive exchange program between the U.S.
and developing nations.
In 2002, after choosing not to seek reelection to
the Legislature, he was elected Chair of the Baltimore
County Republican Party with 63% of the county-wide
vote in a heavily contested, multi-candidate race.
In addition, Mr. Murphy, a nationally-known campaign
advisor, travels extensively at the request of candidates
and focus groups who seek his advice.
When not involved in politics, Mr. Murphy enjoys
sailing as a member of the Downtown Sailing Center
(DSC). The DSC is a community based sailing
program that provides access to sailboats to inner
city youth and the disabled in Baltimore’s
Inner Harbor. In the past, Mr. Murphy has been
an instructor for the DSC’s “Sailing
for Sight” program for sight-impaired sailors.
During Mr. Murphy’s first term, the Guidebook
of Maryland Legislators called him “the nicest
Delegate in Annapolis.” Near the end
of his second term, the Montgomery Gazette concluded
in its analysis of legislators that Mr. Murphy was
unquestionably “liked by everyone.”
Mr. Murphy’s congeniality and work-ethic make
him a favorite with members of both Maryland Legislative
Houses controlled by Democrats, in addition to the
new Republican Administration that has many of his
former colleagues and friends in key policy and decision-maker
roles.
Mr. Murphy is a life-long resident of Maryland and
graduated from the University of Baltimore in 1983
with a B.S. in Real Estate and Finance.
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Don & Gil enjoying
a game in Camden Yards at Oriole Park
celebrating victories during the past
legislative session.
Don previously worked at the Baltimore Economic Development Corporation
(BEDCO, 1985-87) and was closely involved in the site selection process
for Camden Yards.
Gil was on the Oriole’s Executive Host Committee for the MLB
1993 All-Star Game. For over 10 years, Gil was the co-owner
of what the Baltimore Magazine called
the “best sports memorabilia
shop around” in the Inner Harbor a few blocks from the Stadium. (In
the Photo Gallery, there are some fun photos
of Gil and Don with Hall of Fame sports figures.)
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