Personal Injury Litigation Attorney

Job Description

Job Description

We try cases.

Five to ten circuit court jury trials a year. One to five district court trials a month. You will likely be in a courtroom in your first month and you will second chair a circuit court jury trial in your first year.

Our commission rate is highest on cases resolved by verdict and lowest on cases resolved pre-suit. That is deliberate. We pay more for trying a case than for settling it because that is the practice we are building. Second chair is a defined designation with a written standard for graduating to first chair, not a vague promise that you will get trial experience eventually.

WGK has represented injured Marylanders since 1977. Founded by William Kolodner, now led by his daughter Jill Kolodner and grandson Hunter Duke. Family-owned, three generations, two-time Inc. 5000 honoree. You work directly with firm leadership. No committees, no partner track politics. Mark Herman has forty years of Maryland trial experience and you will try cases with him.

The work. You carry your own personal injury docket from complaint through resolution. Motions, depositions of treating physicians and defense experts, mediation, arbitration, and trial in District and Circuit Courts across Maryland. Primarily auto and premises liability, with a developing trucking and catastrophic-injury motorcycle component.

The files that reach litigation here are the ones a carrier denied or lowballed. Maryland is a contributory negligence state, so contested liability is the work. On those files the trial attorney decides the outcome, and you will be that attorney.

Three litigation paralegals, a pre-litigation department, an investigations team, and bilingual intake handle records, liens, and scheduling. You practice law.

Five days a week in person at 14 West Madison Street downtown, free parking. Trial teams prepare together and that is the reason.

Compensation. $110,000 to $135,000 base depending on experience, plus commission. Commission is a percentage of the firm's fee on every case you resolve and it escalates by how far you advance the case: a base rate pre-suit, higher after suit is filed or at mediation, higher at arbitration, and the highest rate on a verdict that exceeds the controlling offer. You also earn 30% of the firm's fee on any case you independently originate. Exact rates are confirmed in your offer letter.

Benefits. Health insurance with 80% of premiums employer-paid. Health reimbursement card for copays. Dental and vision through payroll deduction, same waiting period. $20,000 term life at no cost, same waiting period. 401(k) with employer match up to 4% at six months. Unlimited PTO and we expect you to take at least three weeks. Gym membership. Free parking. No billable hour requirement.

To apply. Send your resume and a writing sample you drafted yourself. A motion or brief, not a memo.

$110,000 - $135,000

• Carry your own docket of personal injury files from complaint through resolution

• Draft and argue motions in District and Circuit Court

• Take depositions of treating physicians, defense experts, and adverse parties

• Handle mediations, arbitrations, and settlement negotiations with carriers and defense counsel

• Second chair circuit court jury trials, with a written path to first chair

• Try District Court cases on your own

• Confirm date of loss and calendar the limitations date and any LGTCA or MTCA notice deadline on every assigned file within 14 days

• Report to and work directly with firm leadership

• One to five years licensed and practicing

• Admitted in Maryland, or admitted elsewhere and sitting for the Maryland bar

• At least one deposition taken, not defended

• At least one contested motion argued in open court

• A writing sample you drafted yourself: motion, brief, or memorandum in support

• Comfortable in a courtroom and able to be in one on short notice

• Willing to work in person five days a week in downtown Baltimore

• No prior personal injury experience required. Insurance defense, carrier staff counsel, prosecutors, public defenders, and plaintiff associates are all a fit

• No pending disciplinary matter in any jurisdiction

Founded in Baltimore in 1977 by William Kolodner, now led by his daughter Jill Kolodner and grandson Hunter Duke. We handle auto and auto-adjacent matters, premises liability, dog bites, workers' compensation, and wrongful death across Maryland and Washington, D.C. Our team is built around six things we hold each other to: Detail, Resolve, Ingenuity, Voice, Efficiency, and Neighborhood.