Smith, Gildea & Schmidt, LLC (SGS), a regional law firm with offices in Towson and Baltimore, is pleased to announce that the Law Offices of Stephen J. Nolan will merge its firm into SGS on November 1. Nolan, who has had an established litigation practice in Towson for more than 40 years, will be Of Counsel in SGS’s Towson office.

After earning a bachelor’s degree with honors from Villanova University and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, Nolan began his legal career in 1977 as an attorney at Nolan, Plumhoff, and Williams, which was founded by his father James D. Nolan. In 2003, he went out on his own and developed a successful litigation practice.

Throughout his career, Nolan has been involved in a wide variety of complex litigation, class actions and other cases. He served as Maryland counsel for the NFL Players Association, special counsel for CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield in a pharmaceutical class action, and lead counsel for Anne Arundel and Baltimore County Public Schools and Governments in the asbestos property damage litigation. Following a trial in Montgomery County and the defendant’s appeal, he collected over $9.8 million from one asbestos manufacturer for the family of a young wife and mother, who died from mesothelioma.

“When it comes to litigation. Steve Nolan is one of the best. He is a well-regarded and well-respected trial attorney, and we are thrilled that he is merging his practice with SGS,” said David K. Gildea, managing partner of SGS. “We are looking forward to working with Steve and having him be a part of our team.”

Nolan, a past president of the Baltimore County Bar Association, has received numerous awards for his work, including the Maryland Bar Foundation’s Award for Legal Excellence for the Advancement of Public Service Responsibility; its Award for Legal Excellence for the Advancement of Rights of the Disadvantaged; the Leadership in Law Award from The Daily Record, as well as other pro bono awards.

“Merging with SGS is an opportunity to join an excellent firm and work with a very talented group of lawyers,” said Nolan. “This will give my clients an extensive scope of legal services that I can’t offer as a solo practitioner.”

In addition to his law practice, Nolan spends a lot of his time giving back to the community, which is an integral part of the culture of SGS.

“I’ve received a huge ‘emotional paycheck’ from my work as a volunteer, which began in Loyola High School,” said Nolan.

Nolan is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Community College of Baltimore County, where he leads a Board of 15 trustees who are appointed by the Governor to oversee the largest community college in Maryland with over 62,000 students each year, six campuses and an annual budget of $261 million.

Nolan is also a Board member of the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Charitable Foundation, Inc., which supports GBMC, LifeBridge Health System, Stevenson University and many other healthcare and educational providers in and outside of Maryland.

Nolan was National Board Chair of the American Lung Association, and he continues his involvement in the organization. Highlights of his tenure include meeting President Obama when he signed the Tobacco Control Act; speaking at Mayor Michael Bloomberg and T. Boone Pickens’ announcement of New York City’s use of Clean Energy for some of its 30,000 vehicles; testifying twice before Congress for increased funding of NIH; and working on last year’s merger of eight regional lung associations into one nationwide corporation with net assets of over $143 million.

Nolan is currently a member of the American Bar Association, Maryland State Bar Association, Baltimore County Bar Association and the Maryland Association for Justice. In his spare time, Nolan, who lives in Timonium, enjoys working out at the Y and traveling to Ireland where he is also a citizen.

About Smith, Gildea & Schmidt

Smith, Gildea & Schmidt is a regional law firm with 13 lawyers whose practice areas include complex civil litigation, land use, estates and trusts, business law, governmental affairs, and domestic relations, among others. The firm's clients range from multinational corporations to individuals with particular legal needs. The practice encompasses most of the jurisdictions in the State of Maryland and the complex civil litigation section has vast courtroom experience in both the federal and state courts.