Patrick J. O'Guinn, Sr., Esq. is an author, practicing attorney and a Professor of

             Criminal Justice and Computer Forensics in Columbia, Maryland. 

             He has litigated complex civil and criminal trials for more than eighteen years; has authored

  books on DWI Defense and the Maryland Criminal Justice System and has lectured attorneys

  on effective trial practice.  O'Guinn has written two original, thought - provoking articles on

  Howard County African American Lawyers that were published in  the Howard County Bar

  Barrister Newsletter in January 2008 and February 2009. 

  The journey for this important research project started by accident more than 15 years ago

  when the author began researching the history and achievements of Howard County African

  American lawyers that had been largely obscured from public discourse, except when an

  African American lawyer pursued appointment for a local judgeship.  During a 1992 visit

  to the main Howard County library with the author's small children, O'Guinn conducted a

  physical search of the library book stacks and a review of the library catalog for written

  works on African American lawyers.  To his dismay the search revealed that no written

  works existed from which the author's children, future generations of African American

  children or from which aspiring minority children could learn about the great legal heritage

  of black lawyers and judges in Howard County, Maryland. 

  Something had to be done to inspire, aid and engage future young leaders in our community

  to pursue legal careers in the rapidly aging profession of law.  Consequently, the author

  has made it his life‘s mission to create a series of local educational resources consisting of

  an educational pictorial website; a narrative book on Howard County African American

  Lawyers and Community Advocates that is chock full of significant facts; and an educational

  CD containing more than 260 slides.  The book and CD will be released soon after the this

  February 2009 website launch.  This legal educational lawyers pictorial is a rare ground

  breaking opportunity for visual learning that we hope you will experience from time to time

  for personal fulfillment, for a broader understanding of our valuable history and to share

  with friends and family.   
         

  O’Guinn, as a college professor, has motivated many of his college students during the past

  sixteen years to  attend law school and become practicing lawyers.  He has mentored law

  students and many young lawyers throughout his professional legal career.  We hope that the

  reader-viewer will become similarly motivated to go out into the world with a resolve to

  make bold new changes in the community that will enhance the lives of others and improve

  the overall condition of our world.

  It is the author's expectation that the first version of this educational website, the historical

  pictorial book and the educational CD on the African American Lawyers and Community

  Advocates in Howard County will become an enduring source of pride, inspiration, and

  motivation for viewers, readers, students and community to honor the rich legacy of our local

  private law firm practitioners and judges with whom the author has been privileged to

  practice, appear before and know since 1990.