From the 2006 News Archive

Martin O’Malley ’88 and Ben Cardin ’67 Top Slate of Law School Alumni Earning Elected Office

For more than a century, the University of Maryland School of Law has been a leader in preparing students to meet the challenges of public service careers in their hometowns, across Maryland, and nationally.

The law school’s continuing success in that mission was evidenced at the polls November 7, as Governor-elect Martin O’Malley ’88 and U.S. Senator-elect Ben Cardin ’67 led a wide slate of School of Law graduates earning election to offices throughout the state.

"This is a law school that talks about responsibilities, not just learning how to be a lawyer. It’s about learning how to be personally responsible for changing your society, making it better," Senator-elect Cardin told the law school’s JD magazine in a recent article detailing the School of Law’s commitment to preparing leaders in public service.

Senator-elect Cardin’s political career began even as he worked to finish law school, as he earned election to the Maryland House of Delegates as a third-year student.

"The dean wanted me to transfer to night school, and I didn’t want to do that. I prevailed upon him that I would make enough classes. I scheduled as many classes as I could on Fridays and Mondays because they were slow days in the General Assembly," said Cardin, who still managed to graduate first in his class.

Governor-elect O’Malley also juggled politics and schoolwork as a law student, taking the demanding role of field director for Barbara Mikulski’s U.S. Senate campaign while a second-year student and earning, he said, a reputation among some professors as "bright but in absentia."

U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings ’76, whose Baltimore district includes the School of Law, was unopposed for election to his sixth congressional term.

Other School of Law graduates earning re-election included:

Maryland State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller ’67

Maryland State Senator Lisa Gladden ’91

Maryland State Senator Allan Kittleman ’88

Maryland State Delegate Elizabeth Bobo ’81

Maryland State Delegate Jon Cardin ’01

Maryland State Delegate Kathleen Dumais ’83

Maryland State Delegate Mary-Dulany James ’86

Maryland State Delegate Anthony (Tony) McConkey ’90

Maryland State Delegate Doyle Niemann ’97

Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith, Jr. '68

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