Professional Experience
Mr. O'Meally is an equity member of the labor and education department at Hodes, Pessin & Katz, P.A., and has worked closely with superintendents, boards of education, private schools, and private sector employers for over twenty years on a wide-variety of matters including collective bargaining, employment litigation, student discipline and special education, drug and alcohol issues, construction and procurement issues, and Open Meetings Act compliance. A 1984 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law where he served as Executive Editor of the Maryland Law Review, Mr. O'Meally clerked for the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upon his graduation. Mr. O'Meally is an Adjunct Professor of School Law at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, McDaniel College, and Morgan State University and has given numerous presentations on employment and education issues for the North American Association of Education Negotiators, the Education Law Association, the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, the Maryland Negotiations Service, the Association of School Business Officials, the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland, the Office of Administrative Hearings, MICPEL, and other groups. Since 2006, Mr. O'Meally has authored the chapters on "Employee Relations and Rights" and "Employee Discipline and Discharge" in the annual editions of the Maryland School Law Deskbook published by LexisNexis. Most recently, Mr. O'Meally was the chief negotiator of the innovative performance based collective bargaining agreement between Baltimore City and the Baltimore Teachers Union as well as several other performance based collective bargaining agreements for non-certificated employees. Mr. O'Meally is one of the few negotiators in the country who has successfully negotiated this type of agreement and is available to serve as a consultant or negotiator to school systems across the country.
Mr. O'Meally is available to speak on a variety of labor and education issues, including his experience negotiating performance based collective bargaining agreements.
Personal Information
Bar Associations
· Member, American Bar Association
· Member, Maryland State Bar Association.
Other
· Judicial Law Clerk
· United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
· United States Courthouse, Richmond, Virginia 23219
· Teaching Experience:
Adjunct Instructor - School Law
McDaniel College
2 College Hill
Westminster, Maryland 21157
· Adjunct Instructor - School Law
Goucher College
1021 Dulaney Valley Road
Towson, Maryland 21204-2794
· Adjunct Instructor - School Law
Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Published Articles
· In Defense of 24/7 Extracurricular Eligibility Policies, Inquiry & Analysis (NSBA Council of School Attorneys, July 2007)
· Co-Author - Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2011-2012 edition)
· Co-Author - Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2010-2011 edition)
· Co-Author - Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2009-2010 edition)
· Co-Author - Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2008-2009 edition)
· Co-Author - Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2007-2008 edition)
· Co-Author - Maryland School Law Deskbook, (LexisNexis, 2006 edition)
· Student Discipline, in Violence in Schools (Professional Development Network, Feb. 11, 2000)
· Maryland Special Education Procedural Safeguards, in Special Education Law in Maryland: Navigating the New Regulations (Professional Development Network, Dec. 8, 1999)
· Teacher Recruitment and Shortages: Legal and Collective Bargaining Implications, presented at combined meeting of Maryland Negotiation Service and Maryland-District of Columbia Association of School Business Officials, Annapolis, Maryland (Nov. 19, 1999)
· Searches of Maryland Students: Fighting the War On Weapons and Drugs in our Public Schools, at Public Schools After Littleton: The Legal Aspects of School Violence Seminar, Linthicum, Maryland (Sept. 17, 1999)
· Sexual Harassment in the Public Schools, in 13th Annual Education Law Institute (The Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers, Inc. "MICPEL", June 26, 1998)
· First Amendment and Other Constitutional Issues, in School Law in Maryland (National Business Institute, February 24, 1998)
· Religion in the Public Schools: Maintaining the Neutral Balance, in Current Issues in Education Law in Maryland (National Business Institute, August 26, 1997)
Community Involvement
· Webelos Den Leader - Cub Scout Pack 150, Gamber, Maryland.
· Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Salvation Army, Carroll County Service Center
· Former Chairman of the Board and President, Westminster Jaycees, Inc.
· Former State Legal Director, Maryland Jaycees, Inc.
· Former Member of the Board of Directors for Dulaney Station, Inc. (a division of Sheppard Pratt Health System)
· Former Member of the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement - Carroll County
· Vice-Chairman Frostburg State College Senate (1979-80)
· Frostburg State College Student Government Director of Forum Affairs (1979-80)
Additional Information
· Selected to The Best Lawyers in America®, 2012
· Member, National School Boards Association Council of School Attorneys
· Member, Maryland Council of Local School Board Attorneys
· Distinguished Service Award, Maryland Negotiation Service (October, 2005)
· Member of Winning Team, Literacy Council of Carroll County "Forth Anyule Spelin Be" (1999)
· Most Outstanding Young Westminster Resident, Westminster Jaycees (1997)
· Selected for Membership, Maryland Law Review (1982-83)
· Appointed Executive Editor, Maryland Law Review (1983-84)
· Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society, (1980)
· Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society (1980)
· AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell