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Updated: September 10th, 2023 | Bethesda | Lawyer List L | Lerch Early & Brewer Chartered | Education, Litigation,
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Address: 7600 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 700, bethesda, MD, 20814
Law Firm: Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chartered
Phone: (301) 657-0176
Fax:
Email:
Website: http://www.lerchearly.com
| Title | Principal |
| First Year of Call | |
| Areas of Practice | Litigation, Education |
| Description | Lauri Cleary, a trial lawyer who co-chairs Lerch Early’s litigation practice, helps businesses, employers, and individuals resolve disputes in and out of the courtroom throughout Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Lauri negotiates and litigates employment, commercial, real estate, and white-collar criminal defense cases.Clients interviewed by leading legal directory Chambers USA call her a great litigator who isn’t afraid to fight-she can be charming or forceful depending on what the situation calls for, and noting that her ability to see the entire battlefield has been a tremendous asset. She sees how pieces on the board will be moving. Lauri’s three decades of commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense experience allow her to envision multiple paths to achieving her clients’ goals. Her common sense and intellectual curiosity drive her desire to understand and advocate for her clients’ interests.She helps businesses and their owners assert and defend claims related to contracts, real estate and eminent domain, corporate and partnership issues, non-competes, and other commercial matters. She also defends management in employment litigation, such as discrimination and wage-hour claims. Religious organizations rely on Lauri to handle a wide range of matters related to their religious and educational operations, real estate holdings, and tax-exempt status, including cases involving First Amendment religious freedoms. Lauri represents individuals who are witnesses, subjects, or targets of white-collar criminal investigations and defends prosecutions in state and federal courts. Lauri also represents lawyers and others facing professional responsibility complaints.As one client said, Lauri is 100% committed to [my] best interests. She listens intently, probing so she really gets to know each person and problem. In difficult times, her clients appreciate Lauri’s gentle wit and the feeling that she will take care of them.A recent past president of Maryland’s largest local bar association, the 2,500-member Bar Association of Montgomery County, and immediate past president of the Montgomery County Bar Foundation, Lauri is well-known to lawyers and judges across the state. She has successfully litigated trial and appellate cases before state and federal courts and administrative agencies throughout Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. She currently is permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the Fourth Circuit, a fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation, and serves on the Alumni Board of the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law.Lauri is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County who tries to make time to become a more proficient pianist, horseback rider, and golfer. She is a parishioner at Our Lady of Mercy in Potomac, where she has served as a lector since 2003.Honors & AwardsNamed Chambers USA Leader in the Field of Litigation: General Commercial (2010-present) Named to Top Attorney List by Bethesda Magazine (2019)Listed in Best Lawyers in America, Appellate Practice, Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Labor and Employment (2018-present) Listed in Super Lawyers Maryland, Employment Litigation: Defense (2014-present) Listed in Super Lawyers Business Edition (2014-present) Listed in Super Lawyers District of Columbia, Employment Litigation: Defense (2014-present) Litigation Counsel of America fellow (2014-present) Named one of Daily Record’s 50 Most Influential Marylanders (2014) Received Daily Record’s Leadership in Law Award (2009) Received Montgomery County Bar Foundation Community Service Award for co-chairing Law School for the Public, a local cable public service television program (2009) Inducted Bar Leader by Montgomery County Bar Foundation (2007) Received John Carroll Society Pro Bono Service Award (2007) Ranked AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review RatingsCommunity InvolvementInterfaith Works (Board of Directors, 2015-present) Our Lady of Mercy (Lector, 2003-present)Sucess StoriesChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsChallengeThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced an unexpected property tax assessment when the Maryland Tax Court ruled that a Montgomery County apartment complex where it housed religious workers no longer qualified for the property tax exemption it had held for nearly 30 years.StrategyThe Tax Court adopted the state’s narrow (and arguably discriminatory) definitional approach that excluded the purposes for which the client church’s properties were being used to deny the exemption. We demonstrated to the Montgomery County Circuit Court and then to the Maryland Court of Appeals that the apartment complex qualifies as a convent, because the church uses the properties exclusively to house a community of people who live together, follow strict religious vows, and devote themselves full-time to religious work, thus meeting the statutory definition and avoiding discrimination in favor of particular denominations allowing only nuns to live in properties called convents as a doctrinal matter. ResultThe Maryland Court of Appeals upheld and reinstated our client’s tax exemption. This allowed the church to continue housing visiting religious workers who leave their homes and families to devote themselves to a two-year commitment to ministry in the temple.ClerkshipsJudicial law clerk to the Honorable Howard S. Chasanow, then a member of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland, and later to serve as one of the most distinguished members of Maryland’s Court of Appeals, the highest appellate court in the state.InsightsPublicationsRestrictive Covenants: A Litigation Checklist (for Plaintiffs or Defendants) February 22, 2019Nonprofits Beware: Avoid Gift Cards When Recognizing Volunteers February 9, 2018Gratifying Pro Bono Work Changes Lives, a Message from the President of the Bar Association of Montgomery County March 1, 2017New Options for Defending Trade Secrets October 24, 2016FLSA: ‘Fearing Law Suits Always’ or Fair Labor Standards Act? How to Avoid Compensation Claims Under the FLSA June 13, 2014Advice on Risk Management and Litigation Avoidance–From a Litigator? January 2, 2007 EventsThe Law and COVID-19: Guidance for Employers March 20, 2020Ask the Attorneys: Conversation and Lunch for Nonprofits and Associations June 1, 2018FLSA: ‘Fearing Law Suits Always’ or Fair Labor Standards Act? Employer Seminar June 13, 2014 NewsLitigator Lauri Cleary Quoted in Daily Record about Missing Office Camaraderie During COVID December 14, 2020Lerch Early Attorneys Named to 2021 Maryland Super Lawyers List December 14, 2020Lauri Cleary Quoted in Daily Record Article About Suspension of Jury Trials November 16, 2020Lerch Early Attorneys Named to 2021 Best Lawyers in America August 20, 2020Chambers USA 2020 Ranks Lerch Early in Real Estate and Litigation April 24, 2020Lerch Early Attorneys Named to 2020 Washington DC Super Lawyers List April 16, 2020Bethesda Magazine Names 30 Lerch Early Attorneys in Top Attorney List October 25, 2019Lerch Early Attorneys Named to 2020 Best Lawyers in America August 15, 2019Lerch Early Attorneys Recognized for Pro Bono Work June 3, 2019Chambers USA 2019 Ranks Lerch Early in Litigation and Real Estate April 25, 2019Multiple Lerch Early Attorneys Named to 2019 DC Super Lawyers April 19, 2019Lerch Early Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers in America 2019 August 15, 2018Chambers USA 2018 Ranks Lerch Early in Litigation and Real Estate May 3, 2018Lerch Early Attorneys Named to 2018 DC Super Lawyers List April 23, 2018Lerch Early Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers in America 2018 August 15, 2017Chambers USA 2017 Ranks Lerch Early in Litigation, Real Estate May 26, 2017Lerch Early Lawyers Named to 2017 Super Lawyers List April 24, 2017Attorney Lauri Cleary Delivers Humor, Wise Words at Maryland State Bar Association Admissions Ceremony December 13, 2016Chambers USA 2016 Ranks Lerch Early in Corporate, Health Care, Litigation and Real Estate/Land Use May 27, 2016Lerch Early Lawyers Named to 2016 Super Lawyers List April 22, 2016Lauri Cleary Elected President of Bar Association of Montgomery County April 22, 2016Lerch Early Lawyers Named to 2015 Super Lawyers Business Edition List December 15, 2015Lauri Cleary Elected President-Elect of BAMC April 20, 2015Lerch Early Attorneys Receive Recognition At BAMC Annual Law Day Celebration April 17, 2015Lerch Early Lawyers Named to 2015 Super Lawyers List April 16, 2015Lerch Early Lawyers Named to 2015 Super Lawyers List December 15, 2014Lerch Early Lawyers Named to 2014 Super Lawyers Business Edition List November 19, 2014Lauri Cleary Discusses Insurance ‘Wasting Policies’ in Daily Record July 25, 2014Chambers USA 2014 Recognizes Lerch Early in Corporate, Health Care, Litigation and Real Estate Law May 23, 2014Lauri Cleary Named a Most Influential Marylander 2014 January 31, 2014Lauri Cleary Named fellow by Litigation Counsel of America January 14, 2014Lerch Early Lawyers Named to 2014 Super Lawyers List December 11, 2013National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Selects Lauri Cleary as Maryland Litigator October 24, 2013Chambers USA 2013 Recognizes Lerch Early in Corporate, Health Care, Litigation and Real Estate Law May 25, 2013LDS Tax Exemption Restored; Apartment Qualifies as a Convent, Top Court Decides January 24, 2013Chambers USA 2012 Recognizes Lerch Early in Corporate, Health Care, Litigation and Real Estate Law June 7, 2012Lauri Cleary Elected to MoCo Bar Foundation Board May 3, 2012Lauri Cleary and Stan Reed Speak on Child Labor Laws Regarding Volunteers and Interns at Global Risk Management Conference September 12, 2011Chambers USA 2011 Recognizes Lerch Early in Corporate, Health Care, Litigation and Real Estate June 10, 2011Lauri Cleary Elected to American Bar Foundation Fellows May 19, 2011Lerch Early Ranked in Chambers USA 2010: Corporate, Health Care, Litigation & Real Estate June 30, 2010Lauri Cleary Wins Leadership in Law Award October 2, 2009Cleary Quoted in Gazette About Law School for the Public September 1, 2008Lauri Cleary, Harry Lerch Speak on Employee Litigation and Land Use Topics January 16, 2008Lauri Cleary Receives 2007 John Carroll Society Pro Bono Legal Service Award October 2, 2007Lauri Cleary Speaks at Adventist Risk Management Conference September 6, 2007 |
Full-service law firm of skilled attorneys helping businesses, nonprofit organizations, individuals and the community create opportunities and solve problems in a personalized, collaborative and cost-effective way.Lerch, Early & Brewer is a Bethesda, Maryland commercial law firm helping businesses, organizations and individuals with their professional and personal legal needs, including business law, commercial lending, community associat…
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