March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 51 F

Buckley to nominate former Associate Montgomery County Attorney as City Attorney

Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley plans to nominate a former Associate Attorney for Montgomery County to head the City’s Office of Law.

The Annapolis City Attorney position has been a tricky one to fill for the past four years. Former Mayor Mike Pantelides nominated Timothy Murnane for the office after winning the election, but he was not confirmed by the council largely due to his interference with a criminal attempted murder case involving Pantelides’ cousin. Pantelides then nominated (and the council approved) Mike Leahy who served for a while, quit to go work in Governor Hogan’s Cabinet, quit that and returned to the City, to quit a final time to return to State government. Since then, the office was managed by Ashley Leonard, acting City Attorney who went out on maternity leave in the fall; when the acting duties were again assumed by Gary Elson.

With the nomination of Richard Melnick, the Office of Law should have some stability. Melnick was an Assistant County Attorney and an Associate County Attorney for Montgomery County since 1988 with extensive experience in contract; commercial; community association; condemnation; constitutional; construction; corporate; education; employment; entertainment; ethics; finance; health; information technology; intellectual property; procurement; public safety; sports; software licensing; tax and tort law. He currently resides in Brookeville, MD.

Additionally, Melnick was a Adjunct Professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Melnick graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Business Management in 1982 and the University of Maryland School of Law in 1985. He is admitted to the DC and Maryland bars for both State and Federal District Courts as well as the US Supreme Court.

None of his litigation has been in Anne Arundel County other than a pending case by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission against local attorney Joseph Laumann. Melnick is a member of the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission (since October 2017) and is listed as one of the attorneys on the case.

It is expected that Buckley will put forth his name for confirmation on the February 12 City Council meeting.

EDIT:  Earlier version of this article indicated Melnick started at the Montgomery County Attorney office in 1995. IT was 1988. From 1988-1995 he was Assistant County Attorney, from 1995 to 2017 he was Associate County Attorney. 

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