LARGO, Md. – Maryland Attorney General-elect Anthony G. Brown on Thursday announced advisors who will serve on his Transition Steering Committee as well as co-leads for policy teams on issues related to the Office of the Attorney General.
Advisors and co-leads will advise the Attorney General-elect on civil rights, consumer protection, the environment, equity and ethics, labor, procurement, and public safety. Policy teams will convene public listening sessions and provide guidance as the Attorney General-elect prepares to assume the roles and responsibilities of the 47th Attorney General.
“Justice and equity will be central to my efforts as Maryland’s Chief Legal Officer and our approach to issues impacting our state. These leaders bring decades of legal, policy and professional experience and are experts in each of their fields,” said Brown. “Their work as part of this transition will be critical to ensuring a strong foundation and clear path forward as we continue to serve the people of Maryland.”
“Attorney General-elect Brown and this transition team are committed to listening to the diverse voices of Marylanders – from our state’s top legal minds to the residents who call Maryland home,” said Transition Steering Committee Co-Chair Donna Hill Staton. “These leaders represent all corners of our great state and I’m confident that their advice and guidance will advance our shared goals of equal justice and equity for all.”
“Transparency is essential to the Office of the Attorney General. Together, with this extraordinary team of leaders and public servants, we’ll ensure a smooth transition to Attorney General-elect Brown and build out a broad, inclusive, and responsive vision to best serve Marylanders,” said Transition Steering Committee Co-Chair Donald B. Tobin.
See below for brief biographies of Transition Steering Committee Advisors.
Jason Downs is the former chief deputy attorney general for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. Jason Downs taps into his experience managing one of the premier AG offices in the country and his reputation as a top-notch trial attorney to help clients engage with government regulators, including state attorneys general. As State Attorneys General practice group co-chair, Jason serves as lead counsel for clients facing enforcement action, takes a creative approach to educating the state AG community on behalf of clients, and helps businesses understand the authority of state attorneys general.
Larry S. Gibson teaches at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. During the administration of President Jimmy Carter, Gibson served in the U.S. Department of Justice as Associate Deputy Attorney General and as the Director of the National Economic Crimes Project. Gibson was Vice Chair of the National Security Council's Working Group on Terrorism.
Elizabeth M. “Betty” Hewlett is an attorney and was recently appointed by President Biden as the Commissioner for National Capital Planning Commission. Betty recently retired from her second tenure as the Chairman of the Prince George’s County Planning Board and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Hewlett has represented Maryland on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and served as a Principal at Shipley, Horne, and Hewlett, P.A.
Timothy Maloney is a trial lawyer at Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, where he handles complex civil and criminal cases. Maloney is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyer and a member of the Maryland Appellate Nominating Commission. Tim served on the Rules Committee of the Court of Appeals from 1998 to 2014. Maloney was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1979 to 1995, where he chaired House subcommittees on higher education, transportation, public safety, and the capital budget.
Elisabeth A. Sachs is the director of Government Reform and Strategic Initiatives in the office of Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski, Jr., having served as the new County Executive’s Transition Director. Prior to these roles, Sachs was a managing partner at Long Point Strategies, a public policy consulting firm.
Tom Perez previously served as the chair of the Democratic National Committee. Perez has also served as the United States Secretary of Labor and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under President Barack Obama. Perez was previously elected to the Montgomery County Council and served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
See below for brief biographies of each Transition Steering Committee Policy Team Co-Lead.
Civil Rights:
Tiffany Releford is a partner at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and Co-Chair of its Community Associations group. She has appeared before state courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, the D.C. Office of Human Rights, and the Prince George’s County Human Relations Commission. Releford represents large and small businesses, nonprofit associations, employers, community associations and individuals in matters involving discrimination based on disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, and age.
Steven Hawkins is s an American social justice leader and litigator who recently served as president and CEO of the US Cannabis Council. Steven previously served as executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project and as executive director of Amnesty International USA. Prior to these roles, Steven served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Program Officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Consumer Protection:
Nicole McConlogue is an associate professor and clinic director at West Virginia University, primarily teaching in the Litigation and Advocacy Clinic. Before joining the faculty, she was a Clinical Teaching Fellow in the Saul Ewing Civil Advocacy Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Prior to that experience, she managed the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland's Consumer Protection Project and also worked as a disability benefits lawyer.
Paul Tiburzi is chair of the State Public Policy and Administrative Law Practice for DLA Piper and has served as Maryland legislative counsel to many Fortune 500 companies. He has taken the lead in representing the Maryland Tort Reform Coalition, a group of Maryland employers seeking to support Maryland's positive civil liability laws.
Environment:
Edward Gibbs is a partner at Gibbs and Haller. Gibbs has represented clients in successfully securing approvals for complex mixed-use development projects before administrative bodies and courts in the State of Maryland.
Melanie Hartwig Davis serves on the board of directors for the Maryland League of Conservation Voters since 2014 and the MDLCV Education Fund board prior. Hartwig-Davis is the Principal and Owner of HD Squared Architects, LLC in downtown Annapolis. She is also currently vice chair of the Anne Arundel County Planning Advisory Board (PAB) and previously served as a Commissioner of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC).
Equity & Ethics:
Lydia E. Lawless is the bar counsel for the State of Maryland. She joined the Attorney Grievance Commission as an Assistant Bar Counsel in 2011 and was appointed Bar Counsel in July 2017. As Bar Counsel, Ms. Lawless manages an office of approximately 25 employees who investigate and, when necessary, prosecute allegations of professional misconduct and incapacity.
Caroline Laguerre-Brown serves as the Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement for George Washington University. Caroline directs George Washington’s efforts to advance diversity and inclusion throughout the university and oversees the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, the Office of Disability Support Services, the Multicultural Student Services Center and the Title IX Office.
Labor:
Roxie Herbekian is the president of UNITE HERE Local 7. Roxie also serves on the Executive Board of UNITE HERE International Union, AFL-CIO, and the Executive Board of the Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO. Roxie has organized and negotiated union contracts for thousands of workers in the Hospitality Industry. In 2021 Roxie helped lead the successful campaign to prevent Governor Hogan from ending Federal Unemployment Benefits early for Maryland workers who had been laid off due to the Pandemic.
Joel Smith serves as counsel at Kahn, Smith & Collins, P.A. He has served as legal counsel and advisor to elected officers and representatives of labor and civic organizations on the local, national and state levels. Smith represents a variety of public employee unions in Maryland. He has played a significant role in defining public employee collective bargaining rights in the State both through legislative action and through litigation.
Procurement:
Franklin Lee is a partner at Tydings & Lee. Franklin is one of the country’s leading authorities on socio-economic policies that promote the use of small, minority-owned, and woman-owned businesses in government contracting. For more than 25 years, he has advised businesses on regulatory compliance with such policies, and the federal, state, and local governments on establishing and defending commercial non-discrimination policies and public contracting programs.
Scott A. Livingston is co-founder of RWL and chair of the firm’s State Contracting, Procurement and Bid Protests Practice. A specialist in Maryland procurement law, Scott has represented hundreds of government contractors on bid protests and other state contract disputes totaling more than 5 billion dollars. He has been the attorney of record in more than 50 decisions published by the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals. In his more than 30 years in practice, Scott has handled more appeals to the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals than any other private practitioner attorney. In his previous position serving as an Assistant Attorney General of Maryland, Scott advised the Secretary of Transportation of Maryland.
Norman Earl Parker Jr. joined the Howard County Office of Law in August 2014, and currently serves that office as its Assistant Deputy County Solicitor. Prior to joining the County, he practiced municipal finance law at Semmes, Bowen & Semmes in Baltimore, and then worked in the Maryland Office of the Attorney General serving as: principal counsel to the State's economic development department; the first principal counsel to the Maryland Stadium Authority; and Deputy Attorney General to Attorney General Joseph Curran.
Public Safety:
Michael Pinard is the co-director of the Clinical Law Program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Professor Pinard currently serves on the board of directors of the Gault Center, the leadership council of the Public Justice Center, and the Maryland Access to Justice Commission. Pinard has served as a board member of the Public Justice Center, an advisory committee member of the Maryland Reentry Partnership and the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and as chair of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Legal Education and Bar Admission’s Committee.
Chelsea Crawford is a partner at Brown Goldstein & Levy and has a diverse civil rights practice, including substantial work in wrongful conviction, police misconduct, and disability rights cases. Prior to joining Brown Goldstein & Levy, Chelsea clerked for the Honorable Andre M. Davis on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for the Honorable Stephanie A. Gallagher on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Learn more at the Attorney General-elect’s website at www.agtransition23.com.