John S. Dame

John S. Dame joined the firm in 2018 as an associate. Prior to entering private practice, John served as the Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Cynthia Callahan of the Sixth Circuit of Maryland. Judge Callahan is the author of Fader’s Maryland Family Law. She was also the Judge in Charge of the Family Division at Montgomery County Circuit Court, before her retirement in 2021.

During law school, John acted as a Summer Counsel at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau at Harvard University, representing clients in family law cases.

John chose to practice family law because of his interest in working with individuals facing challenging circumstances. He believes in managing cases with integrity and attentiveness, while listening and speaking to his clients with compassion for their individual situations.

In his practice, John works toward settling matters rather than litigating them. He is collaboratively trained and completed basic mediation training, so he understands the key aspects to helping parties reach a negotiated agreement on either financial or custody matters. When settlement is not achievable, John also knows how to litigate matters and brings his experience as a former clerk to a Judge to the courtroom.

In part due to his work for Judge Callahan, John follows the legislative and appellate developments in family law very closely. This allows him to bring a vast amount of knowledge in family law to his cases.