St. Mary’s Legal Department Quits

 

By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN --- The county attorney and the assistant county attorney for St. Mary’s County have both submitted their resignations.

County Attorney John Norris told ST. MARY’S TODAY on Thursday that he was leaving public service in April to start his own law firm, with the assistant County Attorney, Heidi Dudderar, as his law partner.

The sudden move on the part of the entire legal department for the St. Mary’s Board of Commissioners triggered a “emergency meeting” called by St. Mary’s Commissioner President Tommy McKay (R. Hollywood), a meeting which violated the St. Mary’s Open Meetings Act due to a failure of the county to properly give advance notice to the executive session, which was conducted by conference call.

Asked about the county’s failure to give advance notice, Norris said he wasn’t in the meeting.

“They must have been talking about me, I wasn’t invited,” said Norris.

A commissioner later confirmed that the subject of the meeting was the resignation of the county’s legal staff.

Norris said he had given the Board 70 days notice and that he would be working most of the time prior to his departure.

“We are not going to leave them in the lurch, but we have decided it is the right time to pursue other types of legal work in our careers,” said Norris.

Norris and Dudderar will set up an office on St. Andrews Church Road (Rt. 4) in California.

With the more than two months notice provided to the board, the “emergency” status given to the meeting of the commissioners, failed to meet the usual definition of the term, such as a tornado or hurricane hitting the county.

Jennifer Fabbricante, the county’s public information officer, sent out notice of the pending meeting after it had already begun.

Other violations of the St. Mary’s Open Meetings Act have taken place.

The following background information is taken from the St. Mary’s County website.

JOHN B. NORRIS, III, County Attorney, served as Deputy County Attorney from May 2000 to December 2001. Mr. Norris received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering and Technology, from Old Dominion University. He received his Juris Doctorate from Ohio Northern University. He began his practice as an Attorney at Law as an Associate with the firm of Rich and Henderson, P.C. in Annapolis, Maryland. Mr. Norris’ experience includes regulatory compliance counseling; mergers and acquisitions; insurance defense; contract negotiations; representation of management in all types of labor matters; administrative, trial and appellate litigation; land use and real estate practice; and the general practice of law. Mr. Norris is a member of the Maryland State Bar and the St. Mary’s County Bar Association.

HEIDI E. DUDDERAR, Deputy County Attorney.

Ms. Dudderar received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from James Madison University. She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore. She began her practice as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Marjorie L. Clagett in the Circuit Court for Calvert County, Maryland. Ms. Dudderar moved to Annapolis to serve as Legislative Counsel and Senior Policy Analyst for the Maryland General Assembly. Ms. Dudderar returned to St. Mary’s County in 2002 to work as an associate attorney in the law firm of Dugan, McKissick & Wood, LLC. Ms. Dudderar’s experience includes matters relating to real property, contracts, business entity formation, land use and zoning, education, tax, employment, family law, trial and appellate litigation, and the general practice of law.

Ms. Dudderar served as Assistant County Attorney from 2003 through 2004, before assuming her current position as Deputy County Attorney for St. Mary's County.Ms. Dudderar is a member of the Maryland State Bar and the United States District Court bar.