06-09-2024 HOF - Flipbook - Page 37
Baltimore Sun Media | Sunday, June 9, 2024
PAUL A. TIBURZI
G
rowing up in Baltimore’s Highlandtown neighborhood, Paul A. Tiburzi
had dreams of becoming an FBI agent. He recalls his father, who was
a Baltimore Police sergeant, telling him he’d have to attend law school
to do it.
But first Tiburzi attended Loyola Blakefield, a Jesuit high school
for boys in Towson, followed by what is now Loyola University
Maryland, where he studied political science and played on the
varsity lacrosse team. He did indeed attend law school after that, graduating second in his
class from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1980. But he didn’t go on to join the
FBI, after all. He liked lawyering too much.
“A light bulb sort of went off when I was at law school,” said Tiburzi, who served as editorin-chief of the Maryland Law Review while a student
Name: Paul A. Tiburzi
Age: 69
Hometown: Highlandtown
Current residence: Phoenix,
Baltimore County
Education: Loyola Blakefield;
Loyola University Maryland, B.A.;
University of Maryland School of
Law, J.D.
Career highlights: Senior
partner, DLA Piper’s litigation
and regulatory practice group in
Baltimore; former chairman of
the Camden Yards Sports and
Entertainment Commission;
included in The Best Lawyers in
America every year since 2006
Civic and charitable activities:
Former chairman and vice
chairman of the Greater Baltimore
Committee, where he remains
a board member; Board of
Visitors member, the University of
Maryland Francis King Carey School
of Law; former board member,
Maryland Institute College of Art;
former board member, Loyola
Blakefield and Maryvale
Family: Married to Maryanne Baier
Tiburzi; three children
and was class president. “I love being a lawyer. I love
the law. … I love helping people.”
Tiburzi said he found inspiration in mentors like the
lateU.S.CourtofAppealsforthe4thCircuitJudgeHarrison Winter, whom he once served as a law clerk, and the
late DLA Piper lawyer Roger Redden, who is credited
with revising and simplifying Maryland’s Code of Laws.
Tiburzi has spent his entire legal career at DLA
Piper, formerly Piper & Marbury, where he works as
a senior partner in the litigation and regulatory practice group.
He’s gained experience dealing with state agencies
and lobbying before the General Assembly, and he has
served as legislative counsel to Fortune 500 companies. He once argued against future U.S. Supreme
Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in a case before the
Maryland Court of Appeals, and won.
“The variety of it is challenging and interesting and
exciting. Every day is a new day,” he said of his legal
work. “I’ve been blessed with many, many great clients
over the years, and I’ve enjoyed working with them.”
He mentored many young
lawyers, as well, in his 14
years as managing partner of
the Baltimore office, which
he said is the longest someone has held tenure in that
position.
“Like every other city,
Baltimore has challenges,”
he said. “But I love my hometown and could have gone
anywhere, probably, to practice law. But I chose to stay
here. It’s my town.”
Gary Attman, the president and CEO of FutureCare
Health & Management, a
client of Tiburzi’s at DLA
Piper, said he first met the
Baltimore native in law
school. “He was really a
superstar,” Attman said.
Today, the two men
serve on the board of the
Greater Baltimore Committee together. Attman said
Tiburzi is “optimistic” about
his hometown.
Tiburzi served as chair
of the Greater Baltimore
Committee from 2017 to
2020, helping to tackle many
city challenges, including
public safety. Of particular
significance to him was keepingthePreaknessStakeshere.
“When I became chairman, there was a real question about whether the
Preakness would stay in
Baltimore … that was one of
my priorities,” he recalled.
“It’s like Baltimore’s Super
Bowl.”
The GBC successfully
supported legislation to
keep the event in Baltimore,
Tiburzi said.
As chairman, Tiburzi had
“tremendous enthusiasm
and energy,” plus connections across many different industries, said Tim
Regan, president and CEO
of construction giant Whiting-Turner and a current
board member.
“Even when you’re tackling tough subjects, Paul is
always going to come with
his glass half full,” Regan
said, adding that he “brings
light and happiness to every
conversation.”
The pair discovered in
recent years, Regan said,
that they had taken the same
Baltimore bus as teenagers
on their way to school.
Tom Bozzuto, another
board member and chairman and co-founder of The
Bozzuto Group, a real estate
company, said Tiburzi was
thoughtful and inclusive as
chairman.
“He made everyone feel
that their participation and
their opinion really mattered
and was really valued,”
Bozzuto said.
An avid sports fan, Tiburzi
also served as chairman of
the Camden Yards Sports
Commission and fought to
bring the Chelsea-AC Milan
soccer game to M&T Bank
Stadium in 2009, one of
the facility’s best-attended
events ever.
Tiburzi also has worked
on transition teams for
Maryland officials, including
Attorney General Anthony
Brown, former Gov. Parris
Glendening, and former
Baltimore Mayor Catherine
Pugh.
“I’ve got inherent enthusiasm, I think, for whatever
I do, whether it’s practicing
law or supporting the city,”
he said. “I wake up every day
ready to take on the world.”
— Abigail Gruskin
37