Attorneys

Jean Lewis Jean Lewis

Jean E. Lewis

Principal
410-347-7409410-539-1269
jlewis@kg-law.com
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Biography

“Listed in Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers, and ranked by Chambers USA for her 'notable experience acting for both plaintiffs and defendants on complex civil litigation.' Chambers sources describe Jean as 'very bright, thoughtful and [with] excellent judgment.'”

Jean Lewis has more than 25 years of experience in trying and litigating complex civil cases for both plaintiffs and defendants. As a leader of the firm's commercial litigation group, she has significant experience representing clients in professional liability claims, bankruptcy-related litigation, class actions, business disputes, and other commercial litigation.

Her representations include multinational law firms, one of the world's largest hotel companies, bankruptcy trustees, corporate directors and officers, businesses, and local governments. In addition to jury trials in courts around the country, Jean represents clients in bankruptcy adversary proceedings, commercial arbitration and internal investigations. She has published several papers on arbitration in Maryland.

Before entering private practice, Jean served as the Deputy Director of the Mayor of Baltimore City's Office on Criminal Justice. She also tried cases as a public defender in Alameda County, California, and worked as an advocate for children at Legal Services for Children, Inc., in San Francisco.


Recognition

Selected for inclusion in Chambers USA, Commercial Litigation, Maryland, since 2020

Selected for Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America, since inaugural edition 2022

Recognized in Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers, 2020

Recipient, The Daily Record, Maryland's Top 100 Women, 2020

Recognized in Benchmark Litigation, "Local Litigation Star," Commercial Litigation, Bankruptcy, since 2020

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, since 2019


Service

The Leadership, Class of 2022

Job Opportunities Task Force, Board Chair 2013 - 2017; Executive Committee 2017 - present

Fund for Educational Excellence, Board of Directors

Rose Street Community Center, Board of Directors

Maryland Volunteer Legal Services Corporation, former Board Member

KIPP Baltimore, former Board Member

Baltimore Economic Recovery Team, former Co-Chair


Memberships

American Bar Association

Federal Bar Association, Member; Professional Ethics Committee, Former Member

International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation

Maryland State Bar Association

Serjeant's Inn, Member


Events

Co-presenter, "Litigating Bankruptcy Cases," Maryland Bankruptcy Bar Association Spring Break Weekend, 2019

Presenter, "Cost-Effective, Cloud-Based Data Collection," RICOH Webinar, 2018

Co-presenter, "Preventing, Spotting and Addressing ESI Destruction," Maryland State Bar Association Annual Meeting, MSBA, 2017

Co-presenter, "Introduction to Federal Practice," Federal Bar Association - Maryland Chapter, 2014, 2015


Publications

Co-author, "Litigating Against Bad Debtors: Protecting Against the Spoliation of ESI," American Bankruptcy Trustee Journal, 2017

Co-author, "Compelling and Staying Arbitration in Maryland," Thomson Reuters Practical Law, 2017

Co-author, "Enforcing Arbitration Awards in Maryland," Thomson Reuters Practical Law, 2016


Representative Matters

Represented the plaintiff in Keyes Law Firm LLC vs. Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik LLP et al., U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, a federal lawsuit against a national law firm and a network of related firms, seeking to recover plaintiff's share of fees from personal injury recoveries on behalf of more than 2,100 underlying injury clients. After successfully overcoming defendants' motions to dismiss and for summary judgment and obtaining summary judgment in plaintiff's favor on two key liability issues against certain defendants, the matter proceeded to a two-week jury trial in December 2019, where the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff. Judgment (including prejudgment interest) totaled nearly $1 million, in addition to hundreds of thousands recovered during the course of the action. Kramon & Graham was successful in establishing alter-ego/veil-piercing liability. In addition, earlier in the case, Kramon & Graham and its client obtained an award of attorneys' fees and costs totaling $316,873.47 as a sanction for defendants' discovery violations. After hearing oral argument, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment with one exception relating to the applicable post-judgment interest rate.

Served as defense counsel in a bilateral class action in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County involving violations of the Maryland Towing Act and related claims. After a successful mediation in 2017, a settlement resolving a substantial number of the claims at issue was approved by the Court. In 2018 and 2019, motions for summary judgment were briefed and the parties engaged in a second mediation. Ultimately the class requested, and the court approved, a significantly reduced settlement demand to individual class members.

Represented  shareholders of a now-defunct medical software company against certain directors and officers to recoup the shareholders’ significant investments. In addition to the complaint filed on behalf of the investor group, Kramon & Graham also represented the bankruptcy trustee of the company as the plaintiff in a related case. In the parallel lawsuits in D.C. Superior Court, the Kramon & Graham team withstood a personal jurisdiction challenge and conducted national discovery, and obtained a settlement that was ultimately approved by the Bankruptcy Court.

Arguing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, served as local counsel and presented the damages case in Paice LLC v Hyundai Motor Co. Working with patent specialists Fish & Richardson, Kramon & Graham presented a compelling claim that Defendants Hyundai and Kia should pay between $200 and $250 per car for their infringement of the Plaintiffs’ patents. After a full day of deliberations, the jury returned a $28.9 million verdict against the automakers, which equated to $200 per car.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a summary judgment obtained by Jim Ulwick and Jean Lewis on behalf of a law firm sued for legal malpractice. The plaintiff alleged 13 separate acts of malpractice and sought $17 million in damages. Jim and Jean successfully moved to have the case withdrawn from the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and obtained summary judgment on all counts in the district court.

In a major victory for Kramon & Graham's client, the City of Baltimore, the Court of Appeals of Maryland upheld local governments' rights to make reasonable prospective changes to their pension plans. Kramon & Graham represented the City continuously since it reformed the public safety unions' pension plan in 2010. At that time, the City faced dire financial circumstances that threatened its ability to provide core services to its citizens, and all relevant actors agreed the pension plan was actuarially unsound. Among other things, the changes involved increased length of service and contribution requirements for active employees and a new, guaranteed Cost of Living Adjustment formula to provide raises for retirees that replaced a variable benefit formula that was endangering the plan's ability to provide basic benefits. The unions filed suit in 2010 in federal court to challenge the reforms.  After a federal appellate court held in 2014 that the changes did not constitute impairments under the federal Constitution's Contract Clause, the public safety unions brought a state law breach of contract action in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The circuit court determined that Maryland law permitted the City to make prospective changes for active members of the pension plan, and that these changes were reasonable; consequently, there was no breach of contract as to these members. The court also rejected the unions' experts' damages assumptions and instead accepted the damages model the City's expert developed, concluding that retirees and retirement-eligible plan members experienced approximately $30 million in damages from the change in plan. This amount was a small fraction of the damages the unions claimed, and the court ruled that many retirees and retirement-eligible members were not damaged by the changes but actually fared the same or better under the new tiered COLA than the variable benefit it replaced. The Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court's determination in all respects. Click here for the Court of Appeals opinion in Robert F. Cherry et al. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City.

Successfully defended a law firm and its management against claims by a former partner of fraud and breach of contract. The arbitrator found no fraud and awarded the claimant less than 10% of his claimed contractual damages.

As special litigation counsel to the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Trustee, successfully argued before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland in Schlossberg, Chapter 11 Trustee v. Vincent Abell et al., Adversary Proceeding No.: 14-00417-TJC, that spoliation by the defendants was so egregious that terminating sanctions were justified. The Court entered a judgment that effectively required the turnover of scores of properties and bank accounts to the firm’s client. The case is significant both for its use of the continuing concealment doctrine in the recovery of assets and for the Court’s opinion on spoliation, which provides the latest, most comprehensive judicial discussion of sanctions for the destruction of ESI.

News

Publications

Events

Recognition

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