Allen E. Honick Founding Partner

Allen E. Honick

Allen Honick is a founding partner of Furman Honick Law. He represents plaintiffs in medical malpractice, wrongful death, civil rights, and serious personal injury cases.

He is a trial lawyer in the literal sense. Allen has tried hundreds of cases to verdict before judges and juries and has briefed and argued appeals in the Appellate Court of Maryland, the Supreme Court of Maryland, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and served as counsel for the respondent in Dupree v. Younger, a civil-rights case decided by the Court in 2023.

Allen takes difficult cases against powerful defendants and is willing to try those cases, and defend the result on appeal. Most of his clients come by referral from former clients and other lawyers, including, at times, lawyers and parties who were once on the other side of one of his cases.

An unconventional road to law

Allen always had the idea of becoming a lawyer. He did not take a direct route.

He left college, spent more than a decade in real estate, and returned to finish school after that market collapsed, this time as an adult with a family and a newborn at home.

He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he was a member of the Royal Shannonhouse Honor Society and an editor of the University of Baltimore Law Review. His Law Review comment, It’s “Exhausting”: Reconciling a Prisoner’s Right to Meaningful Remedies for Constitutional Violations With the Need for Agency Autonomy, examined the barriers incarcerated people face when seeking remedies for constitutional violations. Civil rights litigation later became a substantial part of his practice.

His father was a prosecutor, so the law was always somewhere in the background. What ultimately drew Allen to the profession was the opportunity to influence how the legal system treats people.

“What stayed with me was the idea that lawyers don’t just work inside the system. We have an opportunity to shape how it works for people. That struck me as an extraordinary and privileged way to spend a career.”

A professor gave Allen his first opportunity to work on a civil-rights case during his first year of law school. He has pursued that work ever since. After graduation, he spent the first eight years of his legal career at one of the region’s largest law firms.

The partnership

Allen met Dustin Furman in an appellate advocacy class. Midway through the semester, their professor reassigned the final exercise so they would argue against each other. Afterward, they told each other that someday they should practice together.

That conversation continued for nearly a decade as each built a separate trial practice. Then, during the same week in October, circumstances changed at both firms. They called each other and decided it was time.

Furman Honick Law opened with a substantial caseload already in hand. Within a few months, Allen and Dustin tried a case together and won a $500,000 jury verdict against Baltimore City. Weeks later, they were back in trial in Anne Arundel County, where another jury returned a verdict exceeding $500,000.

Those cases helped define the firm they intended to build: small, selective, trial-ready, and willing to take difficult cases all the way to a jury. Furman Honick has no ambition to become Maryland’s largest plaintiffs’ firm. Allen and Dustin would rather remain selective enough to know the people they represent and stay personally involved in their cases.

The people behind the cases

Allen often handles matters requiring significant discretion: families confronting catastrophic medical injury or wrongful death, people whose constitutional rights have been violated, victims of police or correctional misconduct, and people whose lives have been permanently altered by someone else’s negligence.

He is selective about the cases he takes, and every case is prepared from the beginning as though it will be tried. That means understanding more than the medical records, documents, and legal issues. It means understanding what happened to the person involved, what was taken from them, and what they need from the case.

Many people who call the firm have already been told there is no case, or that the case is too difficult, expensive, or complicated to pursue. Allen believes how a law firm treats people it cannot represent matters too. Some of Furman Honick’s Google reviews were written by people the firm was unable to take on as clients.

“You don’t need to advertise if you do good work and treat people well. Results matter, but relationships do too. If people trust you, they call when something serious happens, and other lawyers call when they have a case that needs to be tried.”

The firm’s practice has grown largely through those results and relationships rather than traditional advertising.

Results

Allen’s results include work at both his prior firm and Furman Honick. Among them:

• a medical malpractice settlement exceeding $10 million
• a $2.7 million jury verdict for civil rights violations
• a $1.85 million Baltimore County jury verdict for a nursing home resident left outside in extreme heat
• a $1.05 million jury verdict arising from the negligent transportation of a prisoner
• a $700,000 jury verdict for excessive force and constitutional violations
• two separate jury verdicts of $500,000 or more in premises liability cases
• a $470,000 jury verdict for a client injured in a truck crash

Allen’s cases have also produced appellate decisions involving civil rights, medical malpractice, wrongful death, governmental liability, and premises liability.

That appellate work shapes how he prepares cases from the beginning. Allen looks not only at how the evidence will play before a jury, but at what must be preserved in the trial record if the result is later challenged. The same lawyer who develops and tries the case may ultimately have to defend the verdict on appeal.

Recognition and publications

Allen has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America (2027) in Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs and Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs. He was recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch from 2022 through 2026. He has been selected to Maryland Super Lawyers (2027) and was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2021 through 2026.

The Daily Record named Allen to its Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Law Power List. His legal writing has been published in the University of Baltimore Law Review.

Allen’s cases are regularly covered by newspapers, television stations, and other media outlets, and he is frequently quoted on civil rights, correctional misconduct, government accountability, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and significant verdicts.

Outside the office

Allen plays squash and golf and is warming up to pickleball. Most of all, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife and children.

Business Litigation

• Obtained multimillion-dollar judgment for a national commercial builder in breach of contract and tort action.
• Managed a portfolio of several thousand state tax liens for a national servicing company.
• Obtained judgment for a solar and renewable energy business in a breach of contract matter.
• Obtained a six-figure judgment for a non-profit business in a contract dispute with a vendor.
• Represent creditors in a variety of collection matters.
• Obtained judgment for a private equity consulting group in breach of contract claim involving proprietary trade secrets and unpaid retainer fees.

Personal Injury Litigation

• Successfully negotiated thousands of personal injury and medical malpractice actions ranging from five-figure matters to nine-figure claims.
• Tried dozens of personal injury jury trials.
• Ongoing representation of plaintiffs in general negligence, motor vehicle, premises liability, and medical malpractice claims.

Recent notable verdicts:

• $470,000 jury verdict for client who sustained a brain injury in a truck crash. (Case No. C-16-CV-23-001068, Cir. Ct. Prince George's Co.)
• $500,000 jury verdict in premises liability case against Baltimore City (24-C-21-002622, Cir. Ct. Balt. City 2022).
• $500,000 jury verdict in premises liability case against commercial cleaning company (C-02-CV-20-001132, Cir. Ct. Anne Arundel Co. 2023).
• $200,000 jury verdict for client injured in car crash where his van went into a building (24-C-22-002786, Cir. Ct. Balt. City 2023).
• $250,000 jury verdict for head-on collision causing permanent injuries (C-02-CV-20-002132, Cir. Ct. Anne Arundel Co. 2022).
• $221,100 jury verdict for client who sustained permanent knee injuries as a passenger in an automobile collision (Case No. C-10-CV-19-000313, Cir. Ct. for Frederick Co.)
• $402,500 jury verdict for client, an Uber driver, who sustained a permanent neck injury in an automobile collision (Case No. 24-C-19-004226, Cir. Ct. Balt. City).
• $350,000 jury verdict in premises liability claim. Trial verdict affirmed by Maryland Court of Special Appeals, at No. 2007, Sept. Term 2019.

Civil Rights Litigation

• Continuous representation of plaintiffs in a variety of Section 1983 actions.
• Continuous representation of plaintiffs in police brutality and prison guard brutality actions.
• Ongoing representation of prisoners in conditions of confinement claims.
• Continuous representation of individuals in Eighth Amendment claims concerning inadequate medical treatment in prison.
• Continuous representation of individuals with disabilities who are denied equal access and opportunities to programs and services because of their disabilities.
• $2.7 million jury verdict in civil rights claim against State government.
• $700,000 verdict for excessive force and violations of constitutional rights.
• $365,000 settlement with the State of Maryland on behalf of current and former prisoners for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Receivership Representation

Successfully recovered millions of dollars for a Receiver established by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the federal district court in Washington, D.C., after a fraudster stole nearly $60 million from unknowing investors in a Ponzi scheme.

Real Estate Litigation

• Successfully defended a municipality in an inverse condemnation proceeding resulting from environmental contamination.
• Successfully defended a condominium association in defending claims related to a bylaw amendment.
• Obtained significant judgment for commercial real estate trust in a dispute over the sale of business assets and real estate.

Cannabis Law

Allen’s cannabis practice focuses on facilitating responsible growth in the industry, with a specific focus on deconstructing prohibition-era policies and promulgating responsible and sustainable frameworks for continued growth in this burgeoning space.

• Serve as outside general counsel to entities in all facets of the space, including cannabis cultivation/processing/dispensing, and hemp-derived CBD, industrial hemp processing and extraction.
• Ongoing representation of ancillary businesses, like banks, insurers, and transporters.
• Provide guidance to operators on state regulatory schemes and the interplay between state and federal law
• Ongoing counsel to operators and investors in deal structure (both buy and sell-side), acquisition, transfer, and licensing
• Counseled elder age homes on regulatory compliant, but practical cannabis policies
• General corporate governance and transactional advice to startups and well-established operators

Outside General counsel

• Previously served as outside general counsel to a local non-profit organization specializing in psychiatric rehabilitation for children and adults in need.
• Serve as outside general counsel to money services business.
• Ongoing representation of various cannabis entities and consortiums.
• Counsel financial institutions, insurers, and other ancillary businesses on implementation of cannabis laws and their interplay with existing statutory schemes.
• Serve as outside general counsel to private equity consulting group.
• Serve as outside general counsel to several faith-based organizations. Serve as outside general counsel to CBD/Hemp retailer and processor.

Pro Bono

• Ongoing representation of clients from Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service. Volunteer at Jewish Community Services pro bono legal clinic.
• Serves as pro bono counsel in discrete appointments by the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
• Successful resolution of prisoner claim for excessive force against the State of Maryland – appointed pro bono counsel by United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Finra Securities Litigation

Successfully resolved broker misconduct claim involving unsuitability, unauthorized trading, and failure to supervise.

Commercial Law Litigation

Allen specializes in commercial law claims involving Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code (negotiable instruments), and routinely litigates Article 3 claims in both trial and appellate matters. Allen serves as litigation counsel for many check cashing and money services businesses in Maryland because of his commercial law expertise.

Mentorship

Ongoing mentorship activities with the University of Baltimore School of Law.