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Overview

Overview

Celeste Bruce’s reputation is well earned.  Her sought-after counsel has been forged at the toughest intersections where business and law meet, enabling her to guide clients step-by-step through their most pressing challenges. Always pragmatic, she is a commanding practitioner in the boardroom, the courtroom, and at the negotiating table.

Celeste Bruce is co-chair of the firm’s Complex Civil and Commercial Litigation practice and has 30 years of experience in broad-based commercial and complex civil litigation in state and federal courts and before administrative and arbitral tribunals.  Her experience includes litigating commercial, business, stockholder, and partnership disputes and dissolutions, land use and zoning matters, contract disputes, fraud and fraudulent transfers, commercial bankruptcy adversarial proceedings, preferences disputes, derivative claims, employment disputes, appeals and appellate practice, and regulatory and agency adversary proceedings.  Celeste’s experience also includes representation of clients on matters involving sports franchise and media rights law, business torts, corporation, and partnership dissolution, corporate governance, election law, and referendum issues, franchise disputes, asset purchase agreements and sales, stock purchase, and sale agreements, business entity creation and dissolution, and catastrophic injury and medical malpractice.

Prior to joining RWL, she was a law clerk and then an associate with the boutique litigation firm Marcus & Bonsib, LLC.

Celeste is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, Montgomery County Bar Association, Women’s Bar Associations of Maryland and Montgomery County, and American Bar Association; and is a Fellow with the American Bar Foundation, the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association and the Litigation Counsel of America.  She is an officer and current treasurer of SCG Legal, a worldwide network of leading law firms.  She is a past president of the Federal Bar Association’s Board of Governors Maryland Chapter and has been instrumental in creating and organizing the Maryland Chapter’s Women in the Law Program. She currently fosters rescue dogs and was a long-time member of the Board of Trustees of Imagination Stage.

Notable Representations

  • Primary Counsel in successfully litigating land use and zoning entitlements on behalf of multi-national retail corporation
  • Primary Counsel in successfully defending multi-million dollar lease termination dispute involving an off-track betting facility
  • Primary Counsel representing RSN in contract dispute with auditor
  • Primary Counsel in successfully litigating breach of employment agreements and stockholder purchase agreement on behalf of medical service provider corporation
  • Primary Counsel in successfully defending derivative and other shareholder claims on behalf of construction company, resulting in termination of claimant shareholders’ rights
  • Primary Counsel in successfully defending shareholder and partnership claims against President of a software company
  • Primary Counsel in successfully litigating claims against neighboring landowner for contamination of client’s site

Achievements

  • Listed as a Super Lawyer® for Maryland in Business Litigation/General Litigation (2010-2023)
  • Litigation Counsel of America Fellow
  • Maryland Pro Bono Service Award