Jefferson V. Wright

Jefferson Wright is a trial lawyer, and heads the firm's Litigation Department. He has extensive experience in complex business litigation for clients involved in industries as diverse as financial services, telecommunications and information technology, manufacturing, insurance, real estate, and the public sector, and has handled hundreds of cases at all levels of state and federal courts and in commercial arbitrations throughout the mid-Atlantic region and many other jurisdictions around the country.

Mr. Wright regularly represents clients in, among other areas:

• Contractual claims arising from a wide variety of business and trade relationships, including disputes over business acquisition/disposition agreements;
• Business tort claims, such as claims for fraud and misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, wrongful termination and unfair competition;
• All aspects of the Uniform Commercial Code, federal and state securities, RICO, and trade secret statutes and other trade-related disputes;
• Disputes arising among equity holders of corporations and partnerships;
• Claims against directors, officers, audit committees, boards of directors and trustees alleging various breaches of duty, including claims under the securities laws and ERISA;
• Internal investigations for public and private companies and public bodies of possible fraud, criminal activity and/or accounting or other irregularities;
• Enforcement of creditors' remedies and the defense of claims against financial institutions (both individual and class actions), including breach of express and implied contractual duties, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of right to privacy, fraud and statutory claims under FCRA, FDCPA, ECOA, RESPA, HOEPA, TILA, UDAP and other consumer protection statutes;
• Constitutional challenges to local and state statutes, on grounds that such laws violate the commerce, due process, equal protection, takings and other clauses of the state or federal constitutions;
• Intellectual property issues (e.g., copyright, trademark, trade secret, licensing and unfair competition, among others);
• Disputes involving water rights, riparian rights, and ground water appropriation; and
• Emergency matters, where the exigencies of our client's circumstances require us to seek or defend against immediate relief from a court (such as injunctions, receiverships or attachments before process).

Mr. Wright strives to provide highly responsive and cutting-edge, yet cost-effective, trial and litigation services in a wide variety of matters arising out of commercial and business disputes. He recognizes that business litigation often is uninvited or undesired - it is almost always taxing on  resources and core business focus, and on occasion a substantial threat to the well-being or even existence of his clients. He works hard to apply the experience of the firm to gain every legitimate advantage at all stages of litigation, including at early phases, to create opportunities to capitalize on those advantages through highly favorable negotiated settlements or by proceeding to trial where well-prepared cases can be presented effectively and dynamically. Given the complexity of the cases he typically handles, Mr. Wright often draws from technical expertise in a number of the firm's other practice groups, such as tax, corporate, securities, intellectual property, benefits, real estate, commercial lending and bankruptcy, to provide comprehensive, timely and affordable advice to clients.

One example of Mr. Wright's work involves the successful petition in 1995 to the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens Bank of Maryland v. Strumpf, where a small team of firm lawyers obtained a unanimous reversal of the lower appeals Court, establishing the right of financial institutions to set off against customers accounts after the filing of a bankruptcy. 

Another example includes his work for a Maryland political subdivision in a dispute over rights to access and supply water in high-growth areas in southern Maryland. This complex matter involved three separate federal and state court cases, all of which were won on summary judgment and affirmed on appeal, as well as two administrative cases, on which Mr. Wright’s client’s positions were vindicated. 

Mr. Wright also serves as general counsel to the firm and, among other things, advises the firm on all matters relating to professional ethics and responsibility, and furnishes advice to lawyers and business leaders on matters relating to both professional and corporate responsibility and liability.

Prior to joining Miles & Stockbridge in 1981, Mr. Wright clerked for J. Dudley Digges on the Court of Appeals of Maryland.

• Maryland

Education

Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. 1980, with Honors.

Tufts University, B.A. 1977, Magna Cum Laude.

Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights

• Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights Litigation
• Financial Crisis Working Team

Commercial & Business Litigation

• Class Actions
• Commercial Litigation
• Disputes Over Business Dispositions
• Financial Institution Litigation
• Intellectual Property Disputes & Litigation
• Internal Investigations
• Real Estate Litigation & Title Insurance Defense
• Subprime & Distressed Credit Resolution

Labor & Employment

• Non-Competition Agreements & Trade Secrets

Maryland State Bar Association: Committee on Ethics, Member (1982-1995) and Chair (1985)

J. Dudley Digges American Inn of Court: Master of the Bench (1985-present)

Judicial Nominating Commission of Maryland: Appointed by Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. (2003-2006)

Community Law Center: Board of Directors (2002-2006); Finance Committee (2003-2006)

Chambers and Partners: Listed in the areas of Litigation: General Commercial – Band 3 (2003-2005); Litigation: General Commercial – Band 2 (2004)

Bar Association of Baltimore City

Baltimore County Bar Association

Roland Park Place: Board of Directors (2002-2003) and Finance Committee (2002-2003)

American Bar Association

Schapiro Training & Educational Program (STEP): Board of Directors (1994-2006)

TerraLex: North American Marketing Committee, Chair (2002-present)

The Leadership (Greater Baltimore Committee, 2006 graduate)

Maryland Super Lawyers: Listed in the area of Business Litigation – as seen in Baltimore magazine (2007-2009)

BTI Consulting Group, Inc.: Named to the "BTI Client Service All-Star Team" (2009)

Super Lawyers - Corporate Counsel Edition: Listed in the area of Business Litigation (April 2008 and March 2009)

"Superseding and Staying Judgments, A National Compendium," American Bar Association (2007).

"The Role of Arbitration in Resolving Business Disputes," Your Money & Business, Maryland Public Television (November 08, 2007).