Kirk Kolodner is a trial lawyer with more than 28 years of litigation experience in many diverse areas of law.

He graduated from Lawrence Univeristy in  Appleton, Wisconsin;  and  obtained  his  law  degree from  the  University  of  Baltimore School of  Law. He is  a Member  of  the  law  firm of  Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf & Hendler, LLC. Mr.  Kolodner has been practicing law in Maryland since 1980.
 
His practice areas include family law, business and commercial litigation, personal injury, real estate litigation, estate and trust litigation, and general civil litigation involving complex suits before federal and state courts. As a trial attorney, Mr. Kolodner asserts his client's interests aggressively, but he is aware of the costs and risks involved in litigation. He has significant experience strategizing and analyzing litigation issues, and he handles all aspects of litigation from investigation, negotiation, pre-trial discovery and motions, to the trial and appeal.

As chair of the firm's litigation practice, Mr. Kolodner also coordinates the firm's litigation among its 19 lawyers.

Cases he has handled include:

In a real estate dispute, Mr. Kolodner was successful in helping a farmer terminate a lease.  In 1960, the farmer leased his building for $800 annually in perpetuity to a bank in what was then a very rural area.  Forty years later, the area had become highly urban; yet the farmer still was collecting only $800 annually in rent from the bank.  Mr. Kolodner proved that the bank had violated the lease terms when the bank merged with another bank, and Mr. Kolodner was successful in establishing the termination of the lease.  The Bank then re-rented the building for more than $40,000 annually, under a new lease.

In a child custody case tried over nine days, the child’s mother, who Mr. Kolodner represented, was awarded sole custody, even though she had disappeared for two years with her 2-year old child by going “underground” in her effort to protect her child from a potentially abusive father.  The child’s disappearance was found by the judge to have been justified and motivated by the mother’s desire to protect her child.

In an adult adoption case involving a $5.0 million trust, Mr. Kolodner represented a brother and a sister who had been adopted as adults by their older, infirm half-brother, for inheritance purposes. The brother  and  sister  were successful in  proving  that  they  were the  “descendants” of their half- brother’s grandfather, who  had  created  the  trust many years earlier, even  though  they  were not related by blood to him.

In a real estate dispute involving the ownership of a $5.0 million, 92-acre  horse farm, Mr. Kolodner proved that the neighbor’s “right of first refusal” to purchase the farm had not been triggered when, for  estate  planning  purposes,  his client transferred the farm to a limited  liability company she alone owned.  The transfer was not deemed by the trial and appellate courts to have been to a third party because the farm owner also owned the company.  She was successful in her efforts to sell the farm to the county for parkland.

In two product liability cases involving injury and death, Mr. Kolodner was successful in recovering $1.0 million and $1.5 million, respectively, for his clients.

In an estate controversy, Mr. Kolodner forced the removal of a court-appointed personal representative who had neglected his fiduciary duties.  Mr. Kolodner then successfully sued the personal representative on behalf of the estate beneficiaries for damages.

In a divorce case that was ultimately decided by Maryland’s highest court, Mr. Kolodner established that his client’s $80,000 country club membership was not “marital property” and should not have been considered an asset by the trial judge because the club membership could not be sold, transferred, or pledged under the club’s rules.

In  a  commercial  real estate  controvery, Mr. Kolodner successfully sued to force the purchaser of an apartment building to consummate the $9.1 million sale. 

In an automobile  accident  case, Mr. Kolodner obtained a significant jury verdict for injuries sustained  by his client, a judge.

Mr. Kolodner has served as a volunteer attorney for the Maryland Volunteer Lawyer's Service, and he has served on the Board of Directors of several community organizations. He also has served as President of the Mount Washington Swimming Club, Inc. in Baltimore. Mr. Kolodner and his wife, Betsy F. Ringel, live in Baltimore City with their children. 

Areas of Practice:

Professional Memberships:

Maryland State Bar Association, Section on Family Law
 
Maryland Association of Justice

Bar Association of Baltimore City

Baltimore County Bar Association

Maryland Trial Lawyers Association

American Bar Association

Reported Cases:

AT&T Wireless Services v. Mayor and City Council,
123 Md.App. 681,  720 A.2d 925 (1998)

Schaefer v. Cusack, 124 Md.App. 288, 722 A.2d 73 (1998)

Townsend Properties, Inc. v. Z.N., Inc., 1995 WL 375595 (D.Md.).