Imoh E. Akpan
Partner
Experience
Imoh E. Akpan is an accomplished litigator with nearly 15 years of experience representing corporations and insurers in a variety of matters involving catastrophic injury, wrongful death, general negligence, negligent security, civil rights, product liability, and other types of claims. He has taken over 15 jury trials and 200 bench trials to verdict, most them involving commercial motor vehicles. A trusted counselor to his longtime clients, he has particularly deep experience in the trucking and transportation, retail and hospitality, and construction industries.
Imoh has defended a variety of trucking and transportation matters involving passenger vehicle accidents, wrongful death, owner-operator liability, logo liability, and negligence claims. He has handled more than 20 rapid response investigations and has deposed accident reconstruction and human factors experts, police officers, vocational rehabilitation counselors, economists, orthopedists, neurologists, and neuropsychologists.
Imoh also has significant experience in the retail and hospitality industry, particularly handling civil rights, civil assault and battery, defamation, negligent security, and slip and fall claims in state and federal courts in Maryland and Washington, D.C. He has represented a wide range of retail clients, including apartment complexes, big box retailers, hotels, private security companies, and special police officers. While the majority of Imoh’s practice involves trial litigation, he also has appellate experience, which includes clerking for the Hon. Inez Smith Reid in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and acting as lead appellate counsel in 10 appeals, including five before the Court of Special Appeals for Maryland and one before the Court of Appeals for Maryland.
Imoh is also a member of Goldberg Segalla’s Diversity Task Force, which strives to conceptualize and implement diversity-focused programs and give diversity a voice in our decision-making at the highest level. The individuals on this task force share the firm’s strong commitment to increasing diversity, and they use their unique experiences and backgrounds to support and advance that goal.
Imoh co-chairs the annual gala for the University of Baltimore’s Fannie Angelos Program for Academic Excellence, which was designed to help minority students gain admittance to law school, offer support, and job assistance after graduation. In 2017, the Fannie Angelos Program won the American Bar Association’s Diversity Leadership Award.
During law school, Imoh worked as a student attorney for the Baltimore City Office of the Public Defender and was the managing editor of the University of Baltimore’s Intellectual Property Law Journal. He also gained experience as a law clerk for the Hon. Althea M. Handy in the Baltimore City Circuit Court.
Related Areas
Experience Highlights
- Successful appeal on an issue of first impression, overturning a half-million-dollar jury verdict. See Perry v. Asphalt & Concrete Services, Inc., 447 Md. 31, 133 A.3d 1143 (2016).
- Obtained a defense verdict in an eight-day jury trial in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
- Obtained a defense verdict in a negligent entrustment claim involving driver convicted of a DUI.
- Obtained summary judgment in favor of a delivery company on a vicarious liability claim.
- Obtained a dismissal of a wrongful death suit, involving eight decedents and carbon monoxide exposure.
- Obtained summary judgment in a wrongful death suit, involving a shooting at an apartment complex.
- Obtained summary judgment in a false arrest/imprisonment, civil rights claim based on mistaken identity.
- Obtained partial summary judgment on an informed consent claim against a pharmacy.
Honors & Awards
Leaders in Diversity – Baltimore Business Journal, 2022
Best Lawyers in America
- Litigation — Insurance, 2022-24
- Product Liability Litigation — Defendants, 2023-24
Maryland Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2014–2021
Daily Record’s Leadership in Law Award, 2019
Background
Admissions
- Maryland
- District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Maryland
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Education
- University of Baltimore School of Law, J.D., 2006
- University of Pennsylvania, B.S. in Neurobiology and Cognitive Science, 2002
Professional Affiliations
- National Foundation for Judicial Excellence
- Program Committee, 2020 and 2021
- Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel
- Member, 2019 to present
- Admissions Committee, 2020 to present
- Diversity Committee: Co-Chair, 2019 to present
- Membership Recruitment Committee: Vice Chair, 2020-21
- Membership Recruitment Committee: Vice-Chair, Diversity Liaison, 2020-21
- Premises Liability: Chair, 2020-21
- Defense Research Institute: Voice of The Defense Bar
- Member, 2015 to present
- Membership Committee, 2021
- Diversity Steering/Planning Committee: 2018 to present
- Diversity Seminar: Expo Chair, 2020, 2021
- Diversity Seminar: Marketing Chair, 2019
- Law Student Forum: Panelist, 2019
- Diversity Seminar: Dine-A-Round Chair, 2018
- Retail and Hospitality Steering/Planning Committee, 2019 to present
- National African American Insurance Association: Member, 2018 to present
- National Capitol-Central Maryland Chapter: Legal Counsel, 2018-2020
Community Involvement
- University of Baltimore
- Fannie Angelos Program for Academic Excellence
- Annual Gala: Program Co-Chair, 2017 to present
- Boot Camp Advisor, 2020 to present
- Law Career Development Office Practice Interviewing Evening
- Interviewer, 2020
- BLSA Annual Practice Interviewing Evening
- Interviewer, 2018 and 2019
- Fannie Angelos Program for Academic Excellence
News & Knowledge
Publications & Events
- “We Have a Responsibility Too,” DRI Voices, Vol. 19, Issue 31, August 5, 2020
- “How Science Can Help You Understand and Reduce Bias in Eyewitness Testimony,” (Co-Presenter), FDCC Annual Meeting, August 3, 2021
- “The Nuts and Bolts of Cybersecurity,” Moderator, National Foundation for Judicial Excellence, 2020
- “Prevalent Issues Arising in Construction Defect Cases in Maryland and the District of Columbia,” (Co-Presenter), GS Webinar Series, May 20, 2021
- “The Calm Before the Storm: A Look at Pending COVID-19-Related Litigation,” University of Baltimore Law in Focus Webinar Series, August 6, 2020
RECENT INSIGHTS
January 25, 2021