The Firm
Wright, Constable & Skeen continues a tradition of providing unparalleled legal services that began more than one hundred years ago. Our drive for excellence has made us one of the nation’s most elite firms, securing us a place on the LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® list of U.S. Top Ranked Law Firms as well as rankings in U.S. News & World Report in the areas of Maritime Law, Insurance Law, Construction Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution. Wright, Constable & Skeen holds an AV Peer Review Rating and has been named in Best Lawyers in America®, Best’s Recommended Insurance Attorneys ®, and Maryland’s Super Lawyers ®, and Rising Stars ®, among other publications.
Wright, Constable & Skeen has four conveniently located offices in Baltimore, Bethesda, Towson and Richmond. We are proud to offer a versatile team of attorneys and paraprofessionals that blends the personal attention and consideration expected of mid-sized law firms with many of the advantages provided by larger firms – a dynamic scope of focus areas organized by practice groups assembled for various concentrations.
The firm prides itself on this balance, as it allows attorneys to concentrate on specific areas while maintaining an outlook that is as interdisciplinary in nature as the challenges and opportunities faced by the people we represent. The product of this approach is a commitment to engagement, accessibility, creativity, problem solving and capitalizing on opportunities.
The Attorneys
Our attorneys are committed not only to our clients and our community, but also to advancing the legal profession. We are proud leaders and members of the American Bar Association, Maryland State Bar Association, the Bar Association of Baltimore City, other local and specialty bar associations, industry and trade associations, and community and charitable organizations.
Offering a dedicated level of personal attention to each and every client, our attorneys have received numerous honors, including being recognized in Best Lawyers in America®, Best’s Recommended Insurance Attorneys®, Maryland’s Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars®. In addition, as a testament to our professional excellence the majority of our attorneys and the firm as a whole is recognized as AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell®.
The lawyers at Wright, Constable & Skeen proudly carry on the legacy of a commitment to clients, community, and the advancement of the legal profession that the law firm’s founders began in 1906. You can find profiles for each of our attorneys, as well as direct contact information here.
Firm History
A law firms’ unique traits are often byproducts of the people involved. Wright, Constable & Skeen’s predecessors created a legacy of excellent legal service, which our attorneys take pride in continuing today. To help ensure that the firm’s legacy endures, we nurture new generations of attorneys who will carry on the type of service that we have offered to Maryland residents and businesses for more than a century.
Wright, Constable & Skeen’s name was formed in the 1980s but its roots took hold much earlier with the firm’s namesakes – John D. Wright, the Constable’s family of attorneys and the Skeen family. Let’s meet them.
Practice areas
Elder Law
Wright, Constable & Skeen offers estate, trust and tax planning for clients to ensure that their assets are distributed as desired consistent with their values and ideals. Estate Planning is also recommended for those interested in protecting their loved ones. At WCS, we begin the estate planning process with a careful analysis of, among other things, our clients’ holdings, business interests, life insurance, and employee benefits. Our focus is on understanding our client’s estate planning goals and implementing them in the most tax-efficient manner. We do not believe that tax considerations should be the controlling factor in estate planning, but we are prepared to guide our clients to solutions which are right for them personally and which use all possible tax-savings techniques.
From simple wills to sophisticated estate planning, we have used planning devices such as aggressive gift programs to family members, revocable (living) trusts, testamentary trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable gifts of various kinds and personal residence trusts.
Estate planning also includes planning for possible future disability. In counseling our clients, we recommend that consideration be given to durable powers of attorney for financial matters, and advance medical directives for health care.
Immigration
The Wright, Constable & Skeen LLP Immigration Law Group is dedicated to the practice of immigration and nationality law. Our specialties include: Foreign Medical Graduates, J-1 Physicians, 0-1 Visas, Consular Practice, National Interest Waivers, and Investor Visas. We have successfully represented thousands of clients, including renowned physicians, Fortune 500 companies, television networks, entertainers, and healthcare providers. Our firm utilizes INS Zoom, a state-of-the art immigration case management system that allows foreign national employees to security access their accounts, upload documents and check the status of their immigration processes.
J1 Physicians
Our Immigration Law Group Partner, Jan Pederson, is a leading advocate for the rights of J-1 Physicians in the United States and has been key to the passage of legislation to benefit them. She seeks solutions for her clients beyond the immigration laws and does not hesitate to seek solutions from The White House and Congress, if necessary. She has been a key advocate on the restoration of the National Interest Waivers for J-1 Physicians and in increasing the Conrad State 20 J-1 Waiver Program to the Conrad State 30 Program.
Jan Pederson has created a resource with immigration information on recruiting, hiring, and retaining visa doctors. Learn about types of waivers, common immigration issues, the processing timeline, and more.
DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY NOW
Employer Services
Our attorneys have been providing strategic advice to start-up companies, mid-size businesses and Fortune-500 multinational corporations to solve all form of immigration matters. Working with one of our dedicated professionals, this assistance ranges from securing nonimmigrant and immigrant visas for employees to advising on short-term visa options, and creation of immigration sponsorship policies. We focus on meeting the unique demands of your company or business for your inbound U.S. immigration.
Our attorneys communicate with human resource personnel and hiring managers on specific case strategies and employ creative approaches focusing on short-term and long-term strategies for immigration candidates. We pride ourselves in providing clients with a realistic assessment of their case, competent strategies, and have demonstrated success at handling complex immigration issues.
Individual Services
For more than 30 years, our attorneys have worked diligently with individuals to meet their immigration needs in all areas of immigration law. We currently handle employment-based, family-based, and naturalization cases.
Included among its clients are J1 physicians, IT workers, scientists, post-doctoral researchers, biotech entrepreneurs, musicians, artists and diplomats. WCS represents priority workers and those whose work is in the national interest who are eligible to self-petition without going through the labor certification process. We are also experts at the PERM Labor Certification Process. We work with individuals seeking U.S. permanent residence through qualifying family relationships, as well as those who are already permanent residents and looking to become U.S. Citizens through naturalization.
Our seasoned EB-1 immigration lawyers help the best and the brightest minds in medicine, science, business, and other fields achieve lawful permanent residence, while our firm’s EB-5 immigration lawyers help those who do not qualify for EB-1 immigration attain permanent resident status. Employment-based immigration with a particular emphasis on the healthcare sector, including J-1 waiver and green card processing for foreign medical graduates; H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrant petitions; PERM labor certification applications, I-140 immigrant petitions; national interest waiver petitions; and, I-485 adjustment of status applications. Contact our team of EB-1 immigration attorneys for more information and to begin the process today. These EB-5 lawyers work with developers and business owners on options available for developing new projects that qualify for EB-5 investments, based on individual EB-5 petitions or through new or existing regional centers.
WCS’s Worksite Compliance Law Practice
With the government’s current focus on increased immigration enforcement, it is more important than ever for employers to fully comply with all relevant immigration laws.
WCS’s experienced business immigration lawyers and team of professionals assist businesses and institutions around the country in preparing policies and programs to ensure full compliance with federal laws and regulations. We also represent employers who face audits, investigations and enforcement-related litigation.