Profile

Shelly Martin represents individuals and businesses in a variety of administrative, trial, and appellate matters. She has represented real estate developers and investors, government contractors, and other business people for whom she has recovered millions of dollars of damages in a variety of contract-related disputes and other matters.

One of the nation's leading lawyers in matters involving the Randolph-Sheppard Act, Shelly has significant experience representing blind managers in challenges against federal and state agencies and in negotiations with teaming partners and other contractors. She also represents individuals asserting claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act.

While in law school, Shelly was a member of the 2000 national championship Jessup International Law moot court team and a senior editor of Law and Contemporary Problems. Before joining Brown, Goldstein & Levy, she worked in a large Washington, D.C. law firm.

She is proficient in German.

Practice Areas

Randolph-Sheppard Act, Appeals, Business Disputes, Civil Litigation, Employment Law, Class Actions

Education

• Duke University School of Law, J.D./L.L.M. (International and Comparative Law), magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, 2000.
• George Washington University, B.A., magna cum laude, 1996.

Representative Cases

• DeCenzo v. Foltz, et al., Circuit Court for Baltimore County - obtained and collected a $433,000 verdict against husband, wife, and two businesses in fraudulent conveyance action, secured a ruling that a company pension plan was used to launder personal assets, and, in a separate action, obtained a declaration that real property was subject to garnishment, notwithstanding claim that debtor did not own the property.
• District of Columbia, et al. v. D.C. Randolph-Sheppard Nominee, Inc., et al., District of Columbia Superior Court - obtained an ex parte court order freezing almost $7 million in pension plan assets that a former plan custodian refused to surrender to the plan's new custodian, later obtained a ruling from the court transferring the assets to the new custodian and recovered an additional $1.5 million in missing funds.
• Schlank v. District of Columbia Department of Rehabilitation Services, U.S. Department of Education Randolph-Sheppard Arbitration - proved that a state licensing agency wrongfully denied a program participant a transfer to a more lucrative job site and obtained an order requiring the state licensing agency to effectuate the transfer and pay more than $130,000 in back pay, interest, and attorney's fees.
• Ronlyn Corp. v. Georgia Department of Labor, et al., Fulton County Superior Court - intervened on behalf of contractor in lawsuit brought by losing bidder seeking to force the state to re-solicit the contract. After an evidentiary hearing the court refused to enter a preliminary injunction, and the disappointed bidder voluntarily dismissed the case.

Publications

• "Should BEP and the USPS Sign Special Agreements? Some Legal and Practical Considerations," Merchant Messenger, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Fall 2005).
• "Genetic Testing in Gifted and Talented Education," course materials, Genetics and the Law, Duke University School of Law, Spring 2001.

Affiliations

• Treasurer - Immigration Section, Maryland State Bar Association, 2008-2009
• Member of the Board of the Homeless Persons Representation Project, Inc.