Industries

Bar Admissions

  • California
  • Maryland

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Education

  • J.D., Stanford Law School, 1989
  • M.A., University of Oregon, 1984
  • B.A., Wesleyan University, 1981

Judicial Clerkships

  • Honorable Fern M. Smith, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, 1989 - 1990

Memberships

  • American Bar Association

    Wesleyan Lawyers Association

Languages

  • Spanish
T 410.244.7611
F 410.244.7742
 
Maria E. Rodriguez
Partner

Maria Rodriguez is a business and commercial litigator, with experience in trade secret, employment, securities fraud, antitrust and libel cases. She is also a member of Venable's appellate practice group and has handled appeals before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Third, Fourth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals. Ms. Rodriguez has specialized knowledge regarding abandoned property/escheat laws and she counsels clients in that area.

Fluent in Spanish, and broadly educated (American Literature and History, Psychology, and Law), Ms. Rodriguez brings a wide frame of reference to her work with Venable clients. Her writing skills were recently recognized when she was named to be editor-in-chief of Litigation magazine.

Representative Clients

She supports Venable clients in the services, manufacturing, banking and publishing industries.

Significant Matters

Ms. Rodriguez represents a variety of corporate clients. Recently, she litigated an employment dispute on behalf of a multi-national company. She also obtained summary judgment for an international owner and operator of hotels in a banking case, for a large manufacturing company in an employment discrimination case and for a pharmaceutical company in a FOIA action, a result that she successfully defended in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She also assisted in the trial of two trade secret misappropriation cases and in the successful defense of a national business magazine in a libel case. Most recently, Ms. Rodriguez successfully litigated a large case (in which she obtained dismissal, stay of discovery, and settlement) on behalf of an educational institution.

Activities

Ms. Rodriguez is a member of the American Bar Association, Litigation Section and editor-in-chief of Litigation magazine. She is also a member of the board of the Venable Foundation and the Contemporary Museum of Art and vice-president of the Baltimore School for the Arts Foundation.  Ms. Rodriguez recently finished serving for two-years on  the Maryland Bar Charter Committee.