COURT NEWS: Maryland Governor Larry Hogan continues to add his stamp on Maryland Judiciary with 184 Judges named during his eight years: Names Kadish and Lambert to District Court in Baltimore City
District Court Judges are appointed to ten-year terms and are not subject to standing for election as are Circuit Court Judges
ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan announced on November 15, 2022, that he had appointed Darren Kadish and Michele Lambert to the Baltimore City District Court.
“It is my pleasure to appoint these distinguished individuals to serve on the Baltimore City District Court,” said Governor Hogan. “Both Darren and Michele will bring a depth of legal experience of knowledge to their roles.”
Over the course of his time in office, Governor Hogan has made 184 judicial appointments—including six of the seven judges on the Court of Appeals and seven of the 15 judges on the Court of Special Appeals.
Darren Lee Kadish is a partner with his father at the firm Kadish and Kadish, P.C. He practices civil and criminal litigation, with a focus on personal injury and medical malpractice cases, real estate and business matters, collection matters, commercial law, and insurance defense work. Before becoming a partner at Kadish & Kadish, Mr. Kadish worked briefly as a solo practitioner and then as an associate at Shapiro & Dorman, P.A., where he worked on personal injury and medical malpractice cases, as well as criminal cases.
Mr. Kadish received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.
Michele Bernice Lambert has worked in the State’s Attorney’s Office for Baltimore City for her entire 16-year legal career. Since 2019, she has served as the Division Chief of the Special Victims Unit. She currently oversees the Circuit and District Court Offices’ staff and operations, including 20 attorneys and 15 staff members. In addition to administrative duties, she conducts training for prosecutors and allied partners on domestic violence, sex offenses, child abuse, and trial strategies. She also handles her own docket prosecuting child homicides, sex offenses, physical child abuse, and felony domestic violence cases as the sole/lead Assistant State’s Attorney.
After graduating from the University of Maryland School of Law, Ms. Lambert served as a law clerk for Hon. Martin P. Welch, Circuit Court for Baltimore City from 2005 to 2006. When her clerkship ended, she accepted a position in the District Court Division of the State’s Attorney’s Office and rapidly rose through the ranks. Before joining the Special Victims Unit, she spent six years in the Domestic Violence/Family Violence Unit.
Ms. Lambert received her B.S. from Morgan State University University and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.
MICHELE LAMBERT SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED BABY KILLER
Medical Evidence Established High-Level Intentional Trauma to Then 6-month Old Infant.
SOUTHWEST BALTIMORE, MD (September 18, 2018) — Cornelius McBride pled guilty to child abuse in the May 2016 murder of his girlfriend’s ten-month-old son, Kahlil Cannady. McBride was sentenced to 40 years in prison with all but 20 years suspended and five years of supervised probation. He was also sentenced to serve a five-year concurrent sentence for a domestic violence incident in March 2017 involving the victim’s mother.
Assistant State’s Attorney (ASA), Michele Lambert from the Special Victims Unit (SVU) prosecuted this case.
On May 25, 2016, at approximately 11:00 pm, Baltimore police responded to the University of Maryland Hospital to investigate a report of child abuse. McBride and the victim’s mother had transported the 6-month-old infant to the hospital, where medical staff diagnosed the victim with several injuries, including a seizure, retinal hemorrhaging, traumatic brain injury, and rib fractures. After four months of intensive care, Cannady passed away on September 24, 2016. The victim was just ten months old.
In his initial testimony to police, McBride testified that Cannady hit his head on the bathtub as his eleven-year-old daughter bathed the victim. While preliminary testimony from McBride’s daughter corroborated this statement, subsequent interviews with police revealed a much different account. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that the eleven-year-old was not at home during the incident and that McBride had instructed her to take responsibility for the victim’s injuries. Several witnesses also confirmed that the infant — who had behaved normally throughout the day — was alone with McBride at the time his seizures were reported.
Homicide detectives, along with ASA Lambert, consulted several pediatric physicians regarding the validity of the details presented in the case. Physician medical examinations established that the child’s injuries occurred shortly before the onset of the seizure, at the time the infant was solely in the Defendant’s care. Doctors concluded that the severity of the victim’s injuries was inconsistent with allegations of a simple fall inside a bathtub and was the result of high-level intentional trauma to the head. One physician told detectives that the injuries suffered by the infant victim “were some of the worst [she] had ever seen.” On September 25, 2016, the victim’s death was subsequently ruled a Homicide.
McBride was arrested on August 15, 2017.
McBride is still in the slammer – when 40 years in prison doesn’t really mean forty years – because this is the Maryland Alice in Wonderland Judiciary
| SID* | Last Name | First Name | Middle Name | Date of Birth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2183429 | MCBRIDE | CORNELIUS | 12/08/1981 | |
| DOC ID | Holding Facility | |||
| 00467863 | Jessup Correctional Institution |
About Darren Kadish from the website of his law firm:
Darren Kadish was born and grew up in the Baltimore metro area. He attended Johns Hopkins University, where he made Dean’s List and was awarded the Student Activities Seal at graduation. He then attended the University of Maryland School of Law, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award (AmJur) for Commercial Paper, as well as the Bridgewater M. Arnold Prize.
Since graduation, Kadish has focused his practice on litigation. He attended the 9-day MICPEL Trial Advocacy course, honing his skills. He successfully uses these skills to help clients in various types of cases, including personal injury claims and defense, criminal defense, traffic offenses, wage and hour cases, and many other types of claims. Mr. Kadish has obtained several very large verdicts on behalf of his clients.
Mr. Kadish is “AV” Rated by Martindale-Hubbell, has a perfect “10″ Rating from Avvo.COM and has been selected as a Super Lawyer for 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Mr. Kadish has guest lectured at the University of Baltimore Law School in the Litigation Process class. He has also lectured at the Bar Association of Baltimore City Nuts and Bolts of District Court Practice seminar and spoke at the District Court Practice tips CLE. He has also guest lectured on the Maryland Rules of Procedure at Villa Julie College (now Stevenson University). Mr. Kadish was also invited to guest lecture at Towson University, where he spoke to the Business Law and the Legal Environment class on Torts.
In 2019 Mr. Kadish was chosen by the Administrative Judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to serve as the Court’s Rule 19-501 Pro Bono Committee Chair. Mr. Kadish was re-appointed by the Administrative Judge for the Circuit Court for Baltimore City as Chair Pro Tem in 2022. Mr. Kadish has also previously served as a volunteer settlement conference officer at both the District and Circuit Court for Baltimore City, using his 32 years of litigation experience to assist litigants with settling their cases.
Kadish has been active in the Maryland State and Baltimore City Bar Associations. He is a Past President of the Baltimore City Bar Association (2020-2021), and he has also served as the President-Elect, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Elected member, ABA Delegate and chaired several committees. Mr. Kadish is currently a member of the Maryland State Bar Association Board of Governors, has previously served two terms as a Governor, as well as having served as the Treasurer of the Young Lawyers Section. In addition, Mr. Kadish served as the Maryland State Bar Young Lawyers Representative to the ABA House of Delegates and a longstanding member of both the MSBA Budget & Finance and MSBA Professionalism Committees.
Kadish serves as a Trustee of the Baltimore Bar Foundation, where he is currently the chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. Mr. Kadish is a Life Fellow of the Baltimore Bar Foundation, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a Fellow of the ABA Young Lawyers Division.
MECHANICS WANTED
