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 tuart Kaplow and his staff laugh about the "official" portrait he uses for his business.
In real life, Kaplow is seldom without a smile or a chuckle. But his portrait shows a glowering man who looks more than a little menacing. It's an uncharactaristic look for Kaplow, but it's something he felt he had to do.
"People want their lawyer to look mean," Kaplow explained.
He may not walk around with a scowl, but the top personal lawyer in this year's survey does put in the hours. So many hours, in fact, that he hired a second secretary to work nights and weekends in his Towson office.
"It's a lot of hours, but that's what it takes today," Kaplow said.
He is a voracious reader, keeping up not only with new developments in his specialty of real estate law,  but also reading old cases and writing articles for various publications, or sometimes just for his clients. He also teaches at the University of Baltimore law school.
But much of his work goes into communications. He trades phone calls and e-mails with clients in Maryland, New York and Florida, making sure he's never out of touch.
"In today's world, if they can't reach me, most of my clients know another lawyer, and they'll give him a call," he said.
While he was rated the top personal attorney, Kaplow is not a family attorney. He doesn't do domestic work.
When asked what it means to be a personal attorney, Kaplow said: "I work with people in what I call their personal business affairs."
Although he concentrates on real estate law, Kaplow cuts a broad swath. To make sure his clients get the best possible representation, Kaplow will farm out work to other attorneys who specialize in much narrower topics, such as closings, lobbying or litigation. He has lists of other attorneys, accountants, engineers, appraisers, developers, insurance experts and
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other professionals with skills that can help his clients.
"I pride myself on maintaining relations with people who are the best in their fields, and then bringing them to the team," Kaplow said.
He thinks that as a solo practitioner, he's at an advantage in being able to assemble a team of specialists. "You get a pretty amazing group of people in this town when you're able to cherry-pick," Kaplow said.
He could make things easier on himself by specializing, but he loves taking in the wider picture.
"This is definitely my passion," he said.
When he does take time away from his practice, Kaplow, who is single, is likely to be found fly-fishing in West Virginia or Colorado. His love of history and scholarly pursuits are both behind his collection of antique maps and his weekly Torah studies. He is adamant about the need to step back from his legal endeavors.
"You need some perspective," he said, "so that knowledge means something."
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