Michael J. Lentz

Michael Lentz is a partner in the firm’s litigation and business departments as well as its estates and trusts practice group.  He has 25 years of experience representing and advising businesses, and the people who own and manage them in commercial litigation, transactional matters, and day-to-day corporate governance.  Michael also represents trustees, personal representatives, and beneficiaries in fiduciary litigation.  His commercial litigation practice includes matters ranging from routine contract or employment disputes to bet-the-company litigation, in industries such as commercial and agricultural lending, health care, financial services, and construction.

Michael’s commercial and fiduciary litigation experience includes:

• Serving as lead outside counsel in the Mid-Atlantic for a major commercial lender;
• Obtaining a complete defense verdict, including a $300,000 fee award, in a three-million-dollar claim brought by a former employee against a private equity fund and its owners;
• Successfully representing a trust beneficiary in million-dollar litigation against the Trustee of his trust;
• Conducting a full-scale, company-wide investigation of alleged discrimination in response to EEOC charges;
• As co-counsel, successfully defending a construction company in a two-week, six-million-dollar arbitration brought by a former employee;
• Successfully defending a corporate employer against a TRO and damages sought by a competitor for alleged trade secret violations and tortious interference with contract;
• After a multi-day trial, successfully opposing the discharge of a six-figure commercial debt that had been fraudulently incurred; and
• After a three-day jury-trial, winning a complete victory, and a substantial award of attorneys’ fees in favor of a client against a former employee who violated the client’s covenant not to compete.

In his transactional practice, Michael has:

• Represented the buyer in acquiring a series of chiropractic practices;
• Represented the seller in the sale of a multi-million-dollar, family-owned industrial business;
• Routinely drafted executive compensation agreements, covenants not to compete, non-disclosure agreements, and similar employment-related agreements; and
• Routinely advised clients regarding hiring and firing of employees and controlling litigation risk.

Michael has taught Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing at the University of Baltimore School of Law, has served on the Board of Trustees of the Alumni Association of the Gilman School, and has served on the Alumni Schools Committee for Princeton University.  He is also proficient in Spanish.

Maryland Super Lawyers magazine has named him as one of the top attorneys in Maryland for business litigation from 2014 through 2018 and again from 2021-2023.  Only five percent of the lawyers in the state are named by Super Lawyers.  The selections are made by the research team at Super Lawyers, which is a service of the Thomson Reuters, Legal Division.