Francis R. Laws

Frank Laws leads the firm’s Litigation Department, a team of lawyers spanning a wide range of litigation experience and expertise.  Focusing on finding business solutions to business problems, Mr. Laws has successfully litigated commercial cases throughout the country.  Aside from the usual contract disputes and business torts, the subject matters have included cattle rustling, copyright infringement, the uniform commercial code, agricultural issues, government authority , and land use issues. Mr. Laws’ labor practice includes the full range of issues generated in the process of employment: administering, negotiating, and/or generally providing advice in the wide spectrum of the alphabet soup statutes enacted to govern employment, including ADEA, ADDA, Title VII, FLSA, FMLA, ERISA, Sarbanes-Oxley, 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1983, and 1985(3), USERRA, etc. Mr. Laws has litigated employment cases in a host of federal and state forums, individual claims, pattern and practice claims, and class actions.

A few weeks after he started practicing law, Mr. Laws became a member of Associated Builders and Contractors, sitting as an ex officio member of the Board for the Baltimore Chapter. Although ostensibly a member of his firm’s labor and employment law department, the interaction with contractors sparked an interest in construction claims litigation that has been a significant part of his practice since. He has litigated construction claims in the tens of millions of dollars throughout the country and represents some of the largest Maryland based construction companies.

Mr. Laws currently serves as an arbitrator for National Arbitration and Mediation (“NAM”).  NAM was voted the #1 ADR Provider in the United States for 2016 in random rankings surveys by the National Law Journal and the New York Law Journal.

Before joining Thomas & Libowitz, Mr. Laws was a partner in what was then the state’s largest law firm, Venable, Baetjer and Howard. He clerked for Harry A. Cole on the Maryland Court of Appeals, until that time the only individual to hold that position while still a student. He also interned for the Honorable James R. Miller in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, and he taught legal research and writing at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law day program in two and one-half years, while holding a full-time position at John Hopkins Hospital.