Louis A. Becker has been conducting mediations, settlement conferences and arbitration for Circuit Court cases, and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals (COSA) since assuming status as a Senior Judge in 2014. He continues to preside over civil and criminal trials and matters, statewide.
He mediates in the areas of civil law: business, contract and corporate, taxation, real property including condominium & community associations, computer/intellectual property, products liability, personal injury, employment, professional malpractice including medical, and family and elder law. He is certified and trained as a mediator with COSA, the University of Maryland Law School, Pepperdine Institute and recently in Elder mediation.
He was appointed to the Circuit Court for Howard County in 2005, after serving on the District Court of Maryland beginning 1989, having presided over the first Drug/DUI Court there. During that time, he was also assigned to hear appellate cases on COSA. He practiced law from 1971 to 1989 with Sybert, Sybert & Nippard as well as Becker, Spahn, Harvis, Fila & Colt in the Baltimore/Central Maryland area.
Particularly helpful to his mediation practice has been service on varied judiciary, bar association and community organizations and entities, i.e., the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission, the Judiciary Specialty Problem Solving Courts, Mental Health & Addictions and its Equal Justice Committees as well as the Attorney General’s COVID 19 Task Forces and the Howard County Library System. In addition to teaching courses on numerous legal subjects for the Maryland Judicial Institute/College including the New Judges’ Orientation Course, for Bar Associations’ CLE courses and at the University of Baltimore Law School as adjunct professor (1994-2005, 2013), educating law students in Professional Responsibility and Trial Advocacy.
His earlier practical experiences dealing with individuals and basic human problems, often business related, include those as a trainee Trust Company officer, a pharmaceutical account representative, and an adjunct professor teaching business law to undergraduates as well as a military officer, before and after becoming a lawyer and judge. Those everyday experiences as well as those solving basic legal but often emotional driven problems in District & Circuit Courts, have greatly enhanced the common sense and human skills needed to be an effective mediator.