Attorney Profile

Deborah E. Dwyer has been a Maryland resident for more than six decades. She attended University of Baltimore for her undergraduate education where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating with highest honors. Ms Dwyer continued her education at the University of Baltimore School of Law where she earned her Juris Doctor, graduating with honors. She was twice awarded the American Jurisprudence award for highest marks. She was inducted into the Heuisler Honor Society, having ranked in the top 10% of her law school graduating class.

Soon after her admission to the Maryland Bar in December 1988, Ms. Dwyer opened her law practice, which she has operated continuously since January 1990, first operating as a general practice, then narrowing the firm’s practice areas to focus primarily on family law. The firm’s diverse clients include single parents who need help with child support and custody and men and women in dissolving relationships needing guidance with property disposition, child-based issues, and support. Ms. Dwyer regularly appears in the Circuit Courts of Howard, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Montgomery and Anne Arundel Counties.

Since 2002, Ms. Dwyer has provided pro bono services as a facilitator for the District Court of Maryland Alternate Dispute Resolution program. She has also completed training in accordance with the Maryland guidelines for court-appointed lawyers representing children in cases involving child custody or child access (Best Interest Attorney). She has completed both the basic and two-day advanced collaborative team training. Ms. Dwyer has attended numerous continuing education programs perfecting her skills and knowledge regarding marital settlement agreements, divorce tax, retirement assets and divorce, and military divorce and retirement. Ms. Dwyer attends yearly family law updates.

For more than a decade, Ms. Dwyer served as a volunteer lawyer for the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service providing legal services to qualifying low income clients. Ms. Dwyer has been an Educational Partner with the Howard County Public School System. She is a founding member and past president of the Women’s Bar Association - Howard County Chapter. She currently assists the board of a family-owned dairy and grain farm in Baltimore County. She is the co-owner of 80 agricultural acres in Baltimore County that is in farm preservation under the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF), Maryland Department of Agriculture. She is a participating member of the Maryland family law and agricultural law list serves.

Ms. Dwyer is a member of the Howard County Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association of Maryland, and the Maryland State Bar Association.  She is admitted to practice before the Maryland District, Circuit, and Appellate courts (1988), and the Supreme Court of the United States of America (1992). She was admitted in 1990 to the Washington DC Bar (currently inactive) and was admitted in 1989 to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland (inactive). Ms. Dwyer is a long-time member of the Howard County Chapter, James Macgill American Inns of Court (July 1, 1993 to the present).