Mr. Dilloff is a retired partner at DLA Piper LLP (US) in its Baltimore office. He specializes in complex commercial civil litigation, including professional liability defense, construction litigation, and insurance litigation. He has been lead counsel in over 100 jury trials and holds two of the largest plaintiff’s verdicts in Maryland history. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1970 (Phi Beta Kappa) and from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973 where he served as an editor of the International Law Journal. From 1973-1977, he was in the Navy’s Judge Advocate Generals’ Corps. In 1977, he joined Piper & Marbury, the predecessor to his present firm. Mr. Dilloff has served as the chair of the Commercial Litigation department and head of training at his firm. Since 2002, he has served as a civil mediator in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. He is a former member of ADR Maryland, a select group of experienced trial lawyers and judges that handle mediations. Since 1983, he has taught trial advocacy, deposition training and civil pretrial practice for the Maryland Institute of Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers and the Maryland State Bar Association. He has written over thirty-five books and articles on trial practice.
Mr. Dilloff's honors include being ranked by Chambers USA as a first tier business litigator, designated a Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation, and being recognized by Best Lawyers in America in five separate specialties (alternative methods of dispute resolution, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, construction litigation and legal malpractice litigation). In addition, he has been included in Who’s Who in American Law, Maryland’s Legal Elite and Maryland Super Lawyers. In 2008 and 2009 he was ranked by his peers in the top fifty lawyers in the State of Maryland by Super Lawyers. In 2012, he was ranked in the top 100. In 2014, Mr. Dilloff received the Burton Distinguished Writing Award for his article on law school training in the Stanford Law and Policy Review. Mr. Dilloff has been named Maryland Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America four times: in 2015, for Bet-the-Company Litigation, in 2016 and 2020, for Legal Malpractice Law, and in 2019 for Construction Law.