Paul Walter
Principal

Contact | Practice Areas | Practice Focus | Education | Bar and Court Admissions | Activities

Practice Areas

Landlord Representation
Estate Planning
Estate Administration
Commercial Litigation
Franchise Law
Business Transactions
Business Formation and Governance

Practice Focus

Paul Walter is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group. He is accomplished as a litigator and business attorney, representing manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in complex civil litigation matters, including distribution, product liability and toxic tort.

Mr. Walter’s litigation practice focuses on defending manufacturers and distributors in products liability and warranty claims.  Highlights have included:

• Favorably settled a Fair Housing Act case between an apartment developer and a civil rights organization in a single session of mediation.
• Successfully argued a constitutionality case in front of the Maryland Court of Appeals on behalf of a Fortune 100 telecommunications company.  In the final ruling, the court found in favor of Mr. Walter’s client agreeing that the US Constitution was violated by the Maryland sales and use tax being disputed.
• Consistently represented an American-based distributor of a foreign automobile manufacturer in product liability and warranty claims.  The majority of these cases resolved in his client’s favor, being dismissed in summary judgment.

Mr. Walter’s work as a business attorney is broad in scope, handling business transactions for large companies in a diverse range of industries. He has extensive experience in the manufacturing, commercial real estate, construction, automotive, and financial industries.  He handles such matters as national and international mergers & acquisitions, financings, refinancing and workouts for commercial lenders and their clients, estate planning and administration, entity formation and governance issues for corporations, leasing matters for landlords and tenants.

Education

LL.B. Harvard Law School, 1955 cum laude
B.A. and B.S. University of Maryland, 1952 with honors

Bar and Court Admissions

American Bar Association
Maryland State Bar Association
Bar Association of Baltimore City
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Tax Court
Court of Appeals of Maryland

Points of Distinction

For over 40 years. Paul Walter has practiced law in Baltimore, earning a reputation as one of Maryland’s foremost senior practitioners. Mr. Walter has effectively represented owners and design professionals, construction managers, and general contractors with the documentation of construction projects and resolution of disputes.

Mr. Walter served as lead defense counsel in two significant antitrust cases that tested the distribution practices of an international automotive distributorship. As well, he has appeared before appellate courts in the state and federal system on numerous occasions regarding insurance coverage, enforcement of foreign judgments and automobile lemon law issues. 

Activities

As a well-known and respected attorney, Paul Walter is viewed as a leader in the legal profession.  He has served on the Ethics Committee and on the alternative dispute resolution committee of the Bar Association of Baltimore City and the Forum on Franchising of the American Bar Association.  At the University of Baltimore School of Law, Mr. Walter teaches a course on litigation process and takes pride in shaping the minds of tomorrow’s legal professionals.

Aside from his commitment to practicing law, Paul Walter is committed to bettering his community.  Mr. Walter has been involved in the Rosewood Center for the Mentally Retarded, the Governor's Drug and Alcohol Abuse Commission, the Governor's Transition Commission, the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Baltimore City, the Northwest Citizens Patrol, and the United Nations International Council of Caring Communities.

Previous Work

Prior to joining Offit Kurman, Paul Walter had a long and distinguished career at a regional, mid-sized law firm, of which he was a founding partner.  Although most of his illustrious career was spent in private practice, he previously worked as assistant attorney general of Maryland and Counsel to the Secretary of the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.

Honors

Mr. Walter is a Life Fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation, an organization that recognizes and rewards with membership those attorneys “whose character and conduct bespeak the highest commitment to the principles in the legal profession.”  Only 2.5% of Maryland attorneys are invited to join.

Mr. Walter received the highest professional (AV) rating from his peers, as reported by Martindale-Hubbard.
 

Contact Info:
Email:	pwalter@offitkurman.com
Office Phone:	410.209.6474
Fax Phone:	410.209.6435
Mailing Address:	300 E. Lombard Street Suite 2010 Baltimore, MD 21202