Arthur Monty M. Ahalt

Judge Ahalt received his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Maryland in 1964 and his Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law of the American University in 1967. He was a Law Clerk for Blair H. Smith, Esquire, Ralph W. Powers and J. Dudley Digges in the Seventh Judicial Circuit.

Mediation career

Upon his retirement in 1999 Judge Ahalt commenced a career as a Mediator, Arbitrator and Technology Innovator. In addition to his private mediation practice Judge Ahalt is currently recalled by order of the Court of Appeals of Maryland to sit on specially assigned cases and conduct pre-trial, settlement conferences and ADR sessions. Judge Ahalt has been certified as a mediator by all of the Courts of Maryland. He has also been certified to mediate Medical Malpractice Disputes by the statewide Medical Malpractice panel and the statewide panel for Complex Business and Technology disputes. Judge Ahalt has successfully mediated tens of thousands disputes in areas including complex business transactions, construction, personal injury, medical malpractice, real estate, landlord and tenant, and contracts. He is frequently called upon by the parties and judges to mediate the most challenging judicial controversies involving post trial and appellate issues. He brings his 45 years of experience in the trial arena to benefit the parties assisting them in evaluating and mitigating risk. His efforts of tracking, analysing and publishing jury verdicts provide the litigants with real life examples of risk application.

Judicial career

After 15 years of private practice as a litigator, Judge Ahalt was appointed to the Circuit Court for Prince George's County on February 9, 1982. His appointment was confirmed in November 1984 by election to a 15-year term. During this time Judge Ahalt tried over 750 jury trials, and eventuated the jury value of over 20,000 injuries as a neutral case evaluator for litigants in the Court's settlement practice. Judge Ahalt also served as President of the Prince George's County Bar Association, and chaired the Youth and Law Committee for the Maryland Bar Association until his retirement. His achievements in improving law related-education were recognized by the American Bar Association honoring him with the "Isidore Starr Award", which is the association's highest honor for law-related education.