Law Clerk Spotlight

LAW CLERK SPOTLIGHT By Michael Barranco & Tracee Fruman

Andrew White

Andrew White is currently serving as law clerk to the Honorable Paul J. Hanley. Andrew was raised (after second grade) in Clarksville, Maryland and he graduated from the McDonogh School in Owings Mills before attending Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2017, majoring in politics. In the past he interned with Steven R. Schuh while Mr. Schuh was County Executive of Anne Arundel County and also interned on Capitol Hill with the late Thad Cochran, United States Senator from the State of Mississippi. Andrew received his JD in May of 2020 from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. As was the case with most educational institutions at the start of the pandemic, Carey Law went to remote classes in his final weeks of law school. He started his clerkship with Judge Hanley in August of 2020 for a period of one year. Andrew has found clerking for Judge Hanley to be a great experience. His favorite part of the job has been researching and writing memoranda concerning unique legal issues. Andrew appreciates the way Judge Hanley treats his staff, including having meaningful discussions with him about the cases and issues which are before the court. Although there were no jury trials during the pandemic, Andrew has enjoyed observing many practicing lawyers, with different styles, appearing before the court in hearings and bench trials, particularly on the civil side. His experience clerking has solidified his interest in becoming a litigator. Fun facts about Andrew: He was a pole vaulter when in high school, he bicycled from Clarksville to Ocean City (over 150 miles) in one day, and when he was younger, he worked at Merriweather Post Pavilion where he was lucky to catch some of the acts such as The Black Keys. He is often asked if he is related to attorney Andrew C. White of Silverman Thompson— they are not.

Joe Stephan Joe Stephan is currently serving as law clerk to the Honorable Colleen A. Cavanaugh. Joe grew up in Reisterstown, Maryland and graduated from Calvert Hall College High School before attending the University of South Carolina. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2016, majoring in criminology with a minor in psychology. He received his JD from the University of Baltimore Law School in May of 2020 and started his clerkship with Judge Cavanaugh in August of 2020. Because of the pandemic, all of his bar review classes were online, and the bar examination itself was taken entirely online. He became a member of the Maryland bar in December of 2020 in a remote swearing in ceremony. Reflecting on the past year he thinks of the changes to court procedures necessitated by the pandemic, such as the use of remote proceedings, as being transformative in the practice of law. However, he looks forward to the court returning to more in-person proceedings in the coming year, in particular the opportunity to observe more jury trials. He believes he has learned much already observing lawyers practicing in court. Recently, Judge Cavanaugh

LAW CLERK SPOTLIGHT By Michael Barranco & Tracee Fruman

presided over a lengthy, complex, medical malpractice jury trial. Joe has known for a while that he wanted to become a litigator. Although his interests at this point remain broad, business litigation and family law are some of the areas of law he is exploring. Judge Cavanaugh recently took over as head judge of Family Law cases in Circuit Court, thus Joe has had the opportunity to learn more about Family Law than he might otherwise would have. He noted that he decided to do a clerkship, not to “buy time” after law school, but to learn by the experience. He recently applied for membership in the BCBA and looks forward to participating in bar activities. He is a sports fan and he enjoys attending Orioles games and doing fantasy sports teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family and friends. Joe will be clerking for Judge Cavanaugh for another year, until the summer of 2022.

Riane Lenzner-White

Riane Lenzner-White, law clerk to the Honorable Vicki Ballou-Watts, grew up in San Diego, CA but made her way to Baltimore with a pitstop in the Midwest. One wonders why anyone would leave San Diego, but Riane wanted to go somewhere new and meet new people. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Riane earned a degree in broadcast journalism. Riane then attended Washington University in St. Louis (my undergraduate alma mater--Go Bears!) for law school and graduated in 2019 with both a JD and an LLM in negotiation and dispute resolution. Although she loved St. Louis, the people, and the food, a clerkship opportunity for the Honorable Susan H. Hazlett in the District Court for Harford County brought Riane to Maryland for the next stage of her career. Riane took the Maryland bar exam in July 2019 and clerked for Judge Hazlett from August 2019 until June 2020. Riane knew that she wanted to continue clerking, in particular, in the circuit court. “I wanted to get more experience [and] a circuit court clerkship is more hands-on, allows for more courtroom time and offers different types of cases.”

In June 2020, Riane began clerking for Judge BallouWatts. Since February 2021, Riane also temporarily clerked for the recently appointed Honorable Stacy A. Mayer. Riane says that the best part of her clerkship has been “seeing things from a different perspective. When you’re in law school, so much is about your argument as an advocate. But we never learn about how judges think and how they make decisions and that has been really great to experience.” Riane has also enjoyed the opportunity to work with other judges and learning each of their unique styles, especially “seeing all of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes and the conversations that go on in chambers.” Riane has appreciated seeing different approaches to solving issues and has learned that “it is important to take a holistic view and look beyond your own arguments.” Like her colleagues, Riane cites COVID-19 as the biggest challenge of her clerkship. “One of the biggest perks [of being a law clerk] is seeing jury trials and we haven’t had that opportunity. It is disappointing to miss out on that,” said Riane. Riane has accepted a position as an associate with Silverman Thompson Slutkin White practicing business litigation. In her spare time, Riane likes to paint and travel. In fact, during Riane’s 1L summer, she worked in the Office of the Public Defender in Durban, South Africa. Since most of Riane’s family lives abroad (Kenya, South Sudan, and New Zealand), once COVID is in the rearview, Riane looks forward to traveling again and visiting her family. BCBA wishes Riane the best of luck in her post-clerkship endeavors! Continued on page 19