PAUL D. BEKMAN graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1971. Since his graduation, Mr. Bekman has concentrated his practice in the handling of serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, with special emphases in medical negligence, product liability, maritime and common carrier cases. He is currently the managing partner of the Baltimore law firm of Bekman, Marder, Hopper, Malarkey & Perlin, LLC. Mr. Bekman has lectured, taught and written extensively in the areas of trial advocacy, personal injury and wrongful death damages, and medical negligence. He was certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a civil trial specialist in 1980, and re-certified in 1990 and 2000. In 1986, Mr. Bekman was elected President of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association. In 1993, he served as President of The Bar Association of Baltimore City. In June 1997, he became President of The Maryland State Bar Association, and was the President of the Maryland Bar Foundation from 2003-2005.
Since 1989, and for every year thereafter, Mr. Bekman has been recognized as one of the top lawyers in the country in the fields of personal injury litigation, product liability, medical malpractice, admiralty and Alternative Dispute Resolution in The Best Lawyers in America. In 1992, he was certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys and he was re-certified in 2002. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and served as President of the Maryland Chapter from 1997-2012. In 2003, he became a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, an organization whose membership is limited to 500 lawyers in the United States. In 1993, he was elected to membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the foremost trial organization in the country, whose membership is limited to the top one percent of trial lawyers in each state. He chaired the Maryland State Committee for two years and served as a Regent of the College from 2006-2010. From 2006 to present, he has been recognized as a Maryland Super Lawyer, and has been ranked in the Top 10 on multiple occasions. He was recognized as Alumnus of the Year by the University of Maryland School of Law in 2010. On March 16, 2011, he was honored by the Bar Association of Baltimore City as one of 11 Living Legal Legends.