Direct: 443-927-2119
Email: [email protected]

Practice

• Business Litigation
• Construction Claims
• Labor and Employment Law
• Wage Compliance
• Administrative and Regulatory
• Creditors Compliance and Litigation
• Real Estate and Land Development Litigation
• Civil Rights
• Class Action Offense and Defense
• Mediation and Arbitration Services

Frank Laws has 41 years of legal experience spanning a wide range of fields and expertise.  Focusing on finding business solutions to business problems, Mr. Laws has successfully litigated commercial cases throughout the country.  Aside from the usual contract disputes and business torts, the subject matters have included cattle rustling, copyright infringement, the uniform commercial code, agricultural issues, government authority, insurance coverage disputes,  and land use issues. Mr. Laws’ labor practice includes the full range of issues generated in the process of employment: administering, negotiating, and/or generally providing advice in the wide spectrum of the alphabet soup statutes enacted to govern employment, including ADEA, ADDA, Title VII, FLSA, FMLA, ERISA, Sarbanes-Oxley, 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1983, and 1985(3), USERRA, etc. Mr. Laws has litigated employment cases in a host of federal and state forums, individual claims, pattern and practice claims, and class actions.

A few weeks after he started practicing law, Mr. Laws became a member of Associated Builders and Contractors, sitting as an ex officio member of the Board for the Baltimore Chapter. Although ostensibly a member of his firm’s labor and employment law department, the interaction with contractors sparked an interest in construction claims litigation that has been a significant part of his practice since. He has litigated construction claims in the tens of millions of dollars throughout the country and represents some of the largest Maryland based construction companies.

Mr. Laws currently serves as an arbitrator for National Arbitration and Mediation (“NAM”).  NAM was voted the #1 ADR Provider in the United States for 2016 in random rankings surveys by the National Law Journal and the New York Law Journal.

Before joining Thomas & Libowitz, Mr. Laws was a partner in what was then the state’s largest law firm, Venable, Baetjer and Howard. He clerked for Harry A. Cole on the Maryland Court of Appeals, until that time the only individual to hold that position while still a student. He also interned for the Honorable James R. Miller in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, and he taught legal research and writing at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He graduated in the top 10% of his class from the University of Baltimore School of Law day program in two and one-half years, while holding a full-time position at John Hopkins Hospital.

Education and Bar Admissions

• Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, CA 1973
• University of Baltimore, 1979
• University of Baltimore School of Law, 1982
• Member, U. S. Supreme Court
• Member, U. S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
• Member, U. S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
• Member, U. S. District Court, District of Maryland
• Member, U. S. District Court, District of Colorado
• Member, U. S. District Court, District of Columbia
• Member, U.S. Court of Federal Claims
• Member, Maryland Court of Appeals
• Member, Diversity Law Institute
• Member, Trial Law Institute

Honors and Awards

• Selected to Maryland Super Lawyers, 2007-2019
• Inclusion in Best Lawyers in America, recognized since 2015.
• Charter Fellow, Construction Lawyers Society of America
• Barrister, Order of Maximus, Construction Lawyers Society of America
• AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®
• Member, Diversity Law Institute
• Member, Trial Law Institute

Notable Matters

Mr. Laws, a Roman Catholic Permanent Deacon, and his wife, Duffy, currently lead a partnership between their parish in Kingsville, Maryland, and a parish in the slums of Mombasa, Kenya. The partnership has led to the provision of clean drinking water, emergency electrical services, assistance to CRS sponsored healthcare for people with HIV, a community food bank for those unable to provide for themselves, and the establishment of cottage industries to assist women without husbands in providing for their families. In addition, Mr. Laws serves as general counsel to Asian Relief, Inc., the U.S. based fundraising arm of the Sisters of Mary Banneaux, and as advisor to the Sisters.  The Sisters of Mary, operating under the name World Villages, currently operate 15 schools in 7 third-world countries, serving the poorest areas by providing boarding school education to middle and high school age children.  He is currently working with the Sisters as they are in the process of opening a new facility in Tanzania.