About Us
F. Kirk Kolodner
Member and Litigation Section Chair
Kirk Kolodner is a trial lawyer with nearly 30 years of litigation and transactional experience in many diverse areas of law. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubble, which is the highest rating for legal ability and professional ethics. He has been selected to Maryland Super Lawyers for 2007 and 2008.
He graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and obtained his law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law. He is a Member of the law firm and has been practicing law in Maryland since 1980.
His practice areas include family and divorce law, business and commercial litigation, personal injury, real estate litigation, estate and trust litigation, and general civil litigation involving complex suits before federal and state courts.
As a trial attorney, Mr. Kolodner asserts his client's interests aggressively, but he is aware of the costs and risks involved in litigation. He has significant experience strategizing and analyzing litigation issues, and he has handled all aspects of litigation from investigation, negotiation, pre-trial discovery and motions, to the trial and appeal.
Mr. Kolodner is chair of his law firm's litigation practice, coordinating the firm's litigation among its lawyers.
The following are a sample of cases he has handled:
- In a real estate dispute, Mr. Kolodner was successful in helping a farmer terminate a financially disastrous lease. In 1960, the farmer leased his building for $800 annually in perpetuity to a bank tenant in what was then a very rural area. Forty years later, the area had become highly urban; yet the farmer still was collecting only $800 annually in rent from the bank. Mr. Kolodner proved to the trial court that the tenant bank had violated the lease when the bank merged with another bank. Mr. Kolodner was successful in terminating the lease. The Bank then re-rented the building for more than $40,000 annually, under a new lease.
- In a child custody case tried over nine days, the child's mother, who Mr. Kolodner represented, was awarded sole custody, even though she had disappeared for two years with her then 2-year old child by going "underground" in her effort to protect her child from a potentially abusive father. The child's disappearance was found by the trial judge to have been motivated by the mother's desire to protect her child.
- In an adult adoption case involving a multi-million dollar trust, Mr. Kolodner represented a brother and a sister who, for inheritance purposes, had been adopted as adults by their older, infirm half brother. The brother and sister were successful in proving that they were the "descendants" of their half brother’s grandfather who had created a trust many years earlier, even though they were not related by blood to him. As a result of the adoption, they were their half brother’s “children” and therefore were deemed “descendants” of their half brother’s grandfather.
- In a real estate dispute involving the ownership of a multi-million dollar, 92-acre horse farm, Mr. Kolodner proved that the neighbor's "right of first refusal" to purchase the farm had not been triggered when, for estate planning purposes, his client transferred the farm to a limited liability company she alone owned. Mr. Kolodner successfully argued before the trial and appellate courts that the “transfer” was not to a third party because the farm owner alone owned the company to which she had transferred the farm.
- In several product liability cases, Mr. Kolodner was successful in recovering more than a million dollars for each of his clients.
- In several estate controversies, Mr. Kolodner successfully forced the removal of personal representatives who neglected their fiduciary duties. Mr. Kolodner then successfully recovered damages from the personal representatives on behalf of the estates.
- In a divorce case that was ultimately decided by Maryland's highest court, Mr. Kolodner established that his client's $80,000 country club membership was not "marital property" within the meaning of Maryland divorce property law and should not have been considered an asset by the trial judge because the country club membership could not be sold, transferred, or pledged under the club's rules.
- In a commercial real estate controversy, Mr. Kolodner successfully sued on behalf of the seller to force the purchaser of an apartment building to consummate the $9.1 million sale.
- In an automobile accident case, Mr. Kolodner obtained a significant jury verdict for injuries sustained by his client, a judge.
For more than 25 years, Mr. Kolodner has served on a pro bono basis as legal counsel to Learning Independence Thru Computers, Inc. (LINC), a Baltimore-based non-profit computer resource center that provides opportunities for people with disabilities, their families, professionals and members of the business community to explore adaptive technology, computer systems, software, and the Internet.
For many years, Mr. Kolodner has served as volunteer, President and board member of The Mt. Washington Swimming Club, Inc., a neighborhood swim club in Baltimore City.
Mr. Kolodner also co-founded and formed Maryland Lawyers for the Arts, a non-profit organization that provides volunteer lawyers for artists.
Mr. Kolodner often provides pro bono legal services through Maryland Volunteer Legal Services for persons who cannot afford legal services.
Practice Areas:
- Family Law Group
- Litigation Group
Bar Admissions:
Court Admissions:
- U.S. Supreme Court, 1982
- U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit, 1995
- U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, 1981
Education:
- J. D., University of Baltimore, School of Law, 1979
- B. A., Lawrence University, 1975
Awards:
- 2007 - 2008 Maryland Super Lawyers, Baltimore Magazine
Reported Cases:
- AT&T Wireless Services v. Mayor and City Council, 123 Md.App. 681,
720 A.2d 925 (1998)
- Schaefer v. Cusack, 124 Md.App. 288, 722 A.2d 73 (1998)
- Townsend Properties, Inc. v. Z.N., Inc., 1995 WL 375595 (D.Md.)
Professional and Civic Involvement:
- Maryland State Bar Association, Section on Family Law
- Bar Association of Baltimore City
- Baltimore County Bar Association
- American Bar Association