8Bruce Poole, Esq. has been representing clients and trying cases for over 38 years. Having completed well over 100 jury and bench trials in his career, Bruce isn't afraid to take a case to trial. As a premier trial lawyer, Bruce has secured some of the largest verdicts in the history of this area and, most recently, a 2.2 million dollar jury verdict in Baltimore City. He has successfully argued cases in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and Maryland Court of Appeals. In 2015, Bruce was entered into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Also since 2015, Bruce has been named to the National Trial Lawyers “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” and has been listed by the National Trial Lawyers as one of the “Top 10 Trucking Attorneys for Maryland”. In 2017, he was named to America's Top 100 Attorneys. Bruce is a member of the National Trial Lawyers, Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, American Association for Justice (including its Trucking Litigation Group), the Maryland Association for Justice, the Maryland State Bar Association, and the Washington County Bar Association. Bruce is also admitted to practice in the U.S. Federal Courts (i.e., the United States District Court, District of Maryland). He has received a Martindale-Hubbell AV-Preeminent rating from fellow attorneys.
Bruce has crafted and negotiated all types of agreements and partnerships. He has many and varied ties in the circles of law, politics, business, labor, entertainment, renewable energy, real estate and health care and often is able to reach agreements and forge relationships of great benefit.
Bruce was born and raised in Washington County, Maryland. He received both a B.A. and law degree from Washington and Lee University, where he was co-author of the Best Brief in the Nation and ranked as one of the top fifteen oral advocates in the nation in the 1984 Jessup International Moot Court Competition. Bruce was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1985 and to the United States District Court, District of Maryland Bar in 1999. In 2019, Bruce was admitted as Counsel pro hac vice to the Superior Court of the State of California. Bruce has gone on to provide years of public and private service.
He served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for twelve years (1987-1999) becoming the youngest member ever to serve as House Majority Leader (1990-1993). In 1990, Bruce was admitted to the Maryland Bar Foundation (an organization dedicated to fostering and maintaining honor and integrity within the profession) and was named Outstanding Young Marylander by the Maryland Jaycees in 1991. Bruce is a former member of the Maryland State Ethics Commission and a past Faculty Member of the Maryland State Bar Association course on Conduct and Professionalism.
Currently, Bruce serves as the Chair of the Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. He was a member of the 2008-2019 Board of Trustees for the University of Maryland Medical System. He has served as a member on the Governor’s Commission for the Licensing of Video Lottery Terminals. Most recently, he served as the Chair of the State of Maryland's Task Force on the Study of Alcohol Regulation, Enforcement, Safety and Public Health, and served as a member of the Washington County Bar Bench Committee and the Maryland Judicial Elections Monitoring Committee.
Bruce has appeared as a witness before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and was an expert witness before the National Tobacco Settlement Arbitration Panel. Although he has been
practicing now for thirty-seven (37) years, Bruce continues to upgrade his legal skills and education. He regularly attends state and national seminars such as the National Trial Lawyers Summit, and seminars and courses produced by the American Association for
Justice, 360 Advocacy Institute, and the Academy of Truck Accident
Attorneys in order to keep abreast of changes and new techniques.
Bruce and his wife, Kathy, have been married for 32 years and have one son.
