Maryland Daily Record Honors RWL Partner Arnold Weiner

Arnold Weiner

Partner
Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC

Arnold Weiner has stood up in court for the Orioles, former governor Marvin Mandel and for bankrupt national retailer Merry-Go-Round.

“Arnold Weiner has not only been one of the most outstanding lawyers that the state of Maryland has ever seen, he has been a leader in law firms since leaving the U.S. Attorney General’s Office in the early 1960s,” says Barry L. Gogel, partner at Rifkin, Weiner, Livingston LLC.

Weiner attended the University of Maryland School of Law and then served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Simon E. Sobeloff of the United State Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore. He then became a prosecutor for the United State Attorney office in Baltimore and later special assistant to the Maryland Attorney General.

The 1999 Merry-Go-Round case, in which the company went after Ernst & Young for a failed Chapter 11 reorganization, was settled for $185 million.

Weiner has been lead defense attorney in several major political trials.

He represented Mayor Sheila Dixon when she was accused of felony perjury and theft in 2009; she stepped down after being found guilty of one misdemeanor count, and was given probation. In the case of Mandel, Weiner argued against the mail fraud and racketeering charges through federal appeals courts, Mandel’s conviction eventually was vacated.

While those cases landed Weiner in the headlines, colleagues say it is his leadership that makes him a Baltimore icon.

Weiner is the chair of firm Rifkin, Weiner, Livingston LLC’s first white-collar criminal defense practice and co-chair of the firm’s complex civil and commercial litigation practice. He serves on the Homeless Persons Representation Project’s Board of Directors.

He has created firms, including Melnicove, Kaufam, Weiner, Smouse and Garbis; Law Offices of Arnold M. Weiner; Weiner and Weltchek; and Weiner, Astrachan, Gunst, Hillman & Allen P.C.