BALTIMORE – March 10, 2008 LAWFUEL – Legal Newswire – Ober|Kaler attorney Sylvia Ontaneda-Bernales has been named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women. The honor, bestowed by Maryland’s business and legal daily newspaper, The Daily Record, recognizes those women who demonstrate a high level of achievement through professional accomplishment, community service, leadership and mentoring. Ms. Ontaneda-Bernales will join the other Top 100 honorees at a special ceremony to be held at Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on May 12.
An attorney in Ober|Kaler’s Litigation Group, Ms. Ontaneda-Bernales is dedicated to the legal profession and to public service. She is active in numerous professional and community groups, including the American, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, District of Columbia, and Maryland bar associations, as well as the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Maryland Women’s Bar Association, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She serves on the MSBA Immigration Committee, the Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition Steering Committee, and the Baltimore City Bar’s Pro Bono Legal Services Committee, among others. Ms. Ontaneda-Bernales mentors law students in the MHBA program and high school students in the Mentoring to Empower Program sponsored by Community Law in Action. She also serves as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Volunteer and Spanish language interpreter for the Maryland State Judiciary, and as a Casa de Maryland board member. Governor O’Malley appointed her to the Maryland Health Care Commission in October 2007.
Ms. Ontaneda-Bernales has previously been awarded the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS) 2007 Educator Award and the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association Public Service Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual. She was also granted the Women’s Role Model Award by Attorney General of Nevada, Frankie Sue Del Papa.
Ms. Ontaneda-Bernales is a graduate of the University of Nevada at Reno (B.A., with high distinction, 1993; M.A., 1996) and the George Washington University Law School (J.D., 2002). She resides in Baltimore City.
About Ober|Kaler
Ober|Kaler is a national law firm providing integrated regulatory, transactional, and litigation services to financial, health care, construction, and other business organizations. The firm has more than 125 attorneys, and offices in Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Falls Church.
