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BALTIMORE, MD — Max Higgins Lauten, 58, died on Thursday, May 28, 2010 after nine-month battle with stomach cancer.
A Greensboro native, Max had lived in the greater Baltimore area for 34 years. He graduated from Grimsley High School in 1969, graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 1973, and from Emory University School of Law in 1976, where he was Notes and Comments Editor of the Emory Law Journal.
Ever the sportsman, Max played rugby as a flyhalf, in both college and law school, and thereafter, for as long as his knees would allow.
Max acquired and honed his considerable litigation skills when he joined the U. S. Department for Justice through the Attorney General's honors program in 1976, where he litigated civil tax cases and was awarded the "Outstanding Attorney Award" in 1980. After four years with the Department of Justice, Max took a year long sabbatical in 1981, staying everywhere from a kibbutz in Israel to a cotton farm in Australia, as he travelled around the world.
He returned to the United States in 1982 and was hired as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, a position he held from 1982 to 1989. He rose quickly in the United States Attorney's Office, serving as the Chief of the Criminal Division for more than three years.
In 1989, Max joined the Baltimore law firm of Kramon & Graham, P.A., where he was a principal until his death. In addition to his private practice, he was a frequent lecturer at the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute on issues related to evidence and trial advocacy. He tried both civil and criminal cases during his career in private practice. Max's partner, Andrew Graham, said: "Max had the unusual ability to try any kind of case at all. He was highly accomplished and yet modest. A rare trial lawyer."
A strong family man, Max married Jill Anderson of Aberdeen, MD in May of 1986 and they raised two beautiful children. He passed his sports enthusiasm onto his kids, coaching them on a variety of sports teams for several years. His son, Matthew, 19, has completed his first year at Gettysburg College. His daughter, Melissa, 17, will be senior at Dulaney High School.
In addition to his wife and children, Max is survived by his brother, John, a Captain in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps, stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC, his step-mother Kathryn S. Lauten of Greensboro, his step-sister, Anna Rickell of Spartanburg, SC and his step-brother, Tom Shadoin of Apex, NC.
Max was the son of the late Jake Lauten, a successful dentist in Greensboro and the late Doris Lauten, a respected college professor at both Greensboro and Guilford Colleges.
A memorial service will be held at the Grace Lutheran Church in Lutherville, MD on Wednesday, June 2, 2010.
Contributions, in lieu of flowers, may be made to Habitat for Humanity, 3741 Commerce Dr., Suite 309, Baltimore, MD 21227 or The Maryland Food Bank, 2200 Halethrope Farms, Baltimore, MD 21227.
Published in News Record on June 2, 2010
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