Salisbury – City Administrator Julia Glanz announced today that the City of Salisbury has hired the firm Cockey, Brennan, and Maloney , P.C. (CBM) to provide legal counsel and perform the duties of City Solicitor. The firm’s representation of the City will be led by attorneys Laura Hay, Ashley Bosche, Heather Konyar, and Michael Sullivan. CBM replaces Seidel, Baker, and Tilghman (SBT), which has provided the City’s legal services since 2012.
Upon receipt of a letter of resignation from Seidel, Baker, and Tilghman on March 5th, the City Administration and Council President Jack Heath conducted a series of interviews with three (3) local law firms, ranking them on such criteria as fees, overall experience, communication, and timeliness. Cockey, Brennan, and Maloney were chosen as the recommended firm and approved by the City Council at their March 22nd meeting.
“We will miss Mark and his team,” said Glanz. “Their services have been instrumental to some of our biggest success over the past decade. I especially want to thank Mark for assisting us with the transition and helping to get the new firm up to speed. I wish he and his team continued success in the future.”
A key factor in Cockey, Brennan, and Maloney’s selection was their plan to assign a 4-person team of attorneys to represent the City. Amongst them, the team has extensive experience in the areas of contract negotiation, development and annexation, employment law, landlord/tenant disputes, civil litigation, and the drafting of legislation.
“We were looking for a firm that would recognize the importance of accessibility, time management, initiative, urgency, and innovation,” added Glanz. “Cockey, Brennan, and Maloney bring a tremendous depth and breadth of knowledge, to meet our needs holistically, and rapidly. I am excited to work with them to move Salisbury forward.”
The group also has long experience with successfully suing the city,
just to add to that breadth and depth comment.
I don’t think this is good news. SBT firm save taxpayers a load of money over the former attorney. They did a thorough job of drafting legislation to protect city neighborhoods, and have provided sound counsel in the interests of our city. On the other hand, the new firm has sued the city many times and I think one of the partners has been a very problematic landlord in the city. The briefing says that selection was partly based on a firm’s ability to “get to yes.” Not seeing how that approach serves the taxpayers and those of us living under the laws and decisions of the mayor and council are served well by that.
Something big about to happen between city and county so that is real reason for attorney changes.
Yep. TJ is a slum lord and that guy robin is the reason non city resident property owners can not vote. They put the junior partners all on the case also!
And with that, no people who want or need to sue the city can retain this firm any longer. Well played, Salisbury. :(. Salisbury wins, we all lose.
Sad that this law firm would sell their souls to the devil for the sake of the $1. I thought that they were genuinely for the people. Salisbury knows exactly how you remove power from the people; by striping them of their defenses and rights. We see integrity dwindling away in these last days….
Jake days high school buddy. That’s why.