Maryland Attorney, James L. Otway

James L. Otway is a principal of Otway, Russo & Rommel. Mr. Otway has practiced law in Salisbury, Maryland for over twenty-five years. He received his law degree from Potomac School of Law (J.D., 1978). He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates, an organization which is comprised of attorneys who have achieved verdicts and/or settlements in excess of one million dollars in cases involving personal injury or death. His practice concentrates on personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases, and business disputes.

Mr. Otway has extensive experience in resolving business disputes through negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. He provides counsel, guidance and representation in areas such as dissolution of partnerships or other entities, breach of contract, wrongful interference with contract, non-competition agreements, specific enforcement of contracts and commercial agreements.

Mr. Otway is a Fellow of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) and a Fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation.  Every year since 2008 he has been named as one of Maryland's elite "Super Lawyers" in the area of personal injury. He has served as President of the Wicomico County Bar Association (1990) and serves on the Maryland State Committee for ACTL. In 2008 he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Maryland Association for Justice. Since 1996, he has instructed other attorneys in a professionalism course sponsored by the Maryland State Bar Association. He was appointed by the Maryland Court of Appeals to serve on a statewide Court Commission on Professionalism to develop standards of professional conduct for attorneys. Mr. Otway serves as a character examiner for the Maryland Board of Law Examiners for the First Judicial Circuit. In addition to all Maryland state courts, he has been admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, United States District Court (Maryland), United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, United States Court of the Armed Forces, United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. He is a member of the American Association for Justice, the Maryland Association for Justice (Member, Technology Committee and Publication Committee), and the American, Maryland State and Wicomico County Bar Associations. Mr. Otway was named to the 2008 Montclair Who's Who among Executives and Professionals.

Mr. Otway has been active in serving his community and in the past has served as an officer of Our Community, an organization devoted to improving race relations, and Urban Salisbury, Inc., a non-profit organization established to coordinate downtown revitalization efforts. He has also served as a member and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Life Crisis Center in Salisbury, counseling on legal issues related to domestic violence. He is Treasurer of the Wicomico County Library in Salisbury, MD. His wife, Kathleen Otway, is a high school teacher. He has three children, Michael, Devin and Morgan. He is an avid fly fisherman and well-acquainted with the ins and outs of the waters of the Eastern Shore.