Herbert Better

Partner

100 EAST PRATT STREET
SUITE 2440
BALTIMORE, MD
21202-1031

410.949.1143
410.659.0436 fax

As a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Johns Hopkins and a former All-American midfielder on the Hopkins lacrosse team, Herbert Better knows what it takes to succeed. He has applied that knowledge to his legal practice, as exemplified by his recognition in The Best Lawyers in America in four different categories—Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, White-Collar Criminal Defense, and Alternative Dispute Resolution—and his awards for public and pro bono service. Previously, he was recognized in Baltimore Magazine as one of the area’s top-five white-collar criminal defense lawyers, based upon a survey of peers.

Mr. Better’s practice includes the representation of individuals and corporations involved in complex civil and criminal litigation. Mr. Better also is a member of ADR Maryland, a select group of experienced trial lawyers with training in mediation.

Prior to joining Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, Mr. Better spent 14 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland, starting as an Assistant U.S. attorney in 1972. He served for five years as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney, and in 1981 he was appointed by the U.S. District Court to serve as U.S. Attorney. Mr. Better left the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1987 to open the firm's Baltimore office.

As a member of the U.S. District Court’s Liaison Committee, he works with a group of lawyers and judges on issues concerning the practice of law in the court.

Experience

Represented the owner of a multi-use, waterfront development project in Baltimore City's Inner Harbor in a suit brought by adjacent property owners challenging the zoning legislation authorizing the development.
Representing an accounting firm in connection with an investigation by the DOJ and the IRS of an off-shore tax shelter used by a client of the firm.
Represented the owner of Baltimore’s major league indoor soccer team in a case involving a challenge to zoning legislation allowing the placement of general advertising signs on the façade of the city-owned 1st Mariner Arena to provide advertising revenue to the owner of the team comparable to advertising revenue provided to other major league teams.

More >

EDUCATION

University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., 1968
Johns Hopkins University, 1965, Phi Beta Kappa

COURT ADMISSIONS

U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
U.S. Tax Court

BAR ADMISSIONS

Maryland

MEMBERSHIPS

Member, American Bar Association
Member, Federal Bar Association
Member, Maryland State Bar Association
Member, U.S. District Court Attorney Admissions Fund Committee
Member, U.S. District Court Liaison Committee
President, Historical Society of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
Former President, Maryland Chapter, Federal Bar Association
Former President, Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association
Member, Lawyers’ Round Table of Baltimore
President, Wednesday Law Club
Permanent Member, Judicial Conference of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals