DAVID D. GILLISS
Phone: 443-761-6508
Fax: 443-761-6519
E-mail:gilliss@pikegilliss.com

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Mr. Gilliss is a founding partner of Pike & Gilliss, LLC.  His practice focuses on construction, surety, and fidelity related claims on behalf of construction companies, sureties, and fidelity carriers. His practice also includes litigation of general commercial and regulatory claims and actions.

Mr. Gilliss has written extensively on surety, fidelity and construction-related issues including co-authoring “Surety Bonds and Insurance in the Construction Industry,” “Arbitration of Construction in Commercial Cases” and “Maryland Construction Law: What Do You Do When…?” Mr. Gilliss is a former member of the Division 7 Steering Committee of the ABA Construction law Forum, and he has served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Maryland State Bar Association (1992-94).

Prior to forming Pike & Gilliss, LLC, Mr. Gilliss was a partner with a prominent Baltimore law firm.  Mr. Gilliss also was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Robert L. Karwacki of the Maryland Court of Appeals (Ret.) (then of the Court of Special Appeals).

BAR ADMISSIONS

Maryland, 1985
U.S. District Court District of Maryland
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Court of Federal Claims
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
U.S. Supreme Court

EDUCATION

University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., 1985
Maryland Law Review, Assistant Editor
College of Wooster, B.A., 1980 (with Departmental Honors)

HONORS AND AWARDS

Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers^®  in America, Litigation – Construction in Baltimore, 2021
Best Lawyers^® in America, Construction Litigation & Municipal Litigation, 2013-2021
AV Rated Attorney, Martindale-Hubbell, 1999-2020
Super Lawyers, Maryland Top 100 Lawyer, 2014 – 2016, 2019, 2020
Super Lawyers, Top Rated Construction Litigation, 2008-2020
Super Lawyers, Top Rated Surety Super Lawyer, 2008-2020
Distinguished Service Award, Maryland State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section, 1991

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

Maryland State Bar Association 1985 – Present
Baltimore County Bar Association 1988 – Present
Bar Association of Baltimore City 1985 – 2014
Member, Board of Governors 1992 – 1994
Section Council Member for MSBA Construction Law Section 2010 – 2013
Maryland State Bar Association, Fidelity and Surety Subcommittee 1988 – 1994
Secretary/Treasurer 1988 – 1994; Co-Founder: Fidelity and Surety Subcommittee
Section Council Representative for Fidelity and Surety Issues, Section on Negligence, Insurance and Workers’ Compensation, 1991 – 1993

LECTURES, PRESENTATIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS

Concealment of Claims by a Payment Bond Principal, Defense Research Institute, 2015

“Limitations, Waiting Periods, and Statutory Constraints… Are There 50 States of Confusion?” American Bar Association, 2010

“Fractures to the Triangle—Developments that Undermine the Tripartite Surety Relationship”, presentation to the ABA Mid-Winter meeting, Fidelity and Surety Section, 2006

Fractures to the Triangle-Developments that Undermine the Tripartite Surety Relationship, (Co-authored with Michael Hurley) ABA, 2006

Construction Defect Claims in Maryland, (Co-author) Lorman, 2004

Maryland Construction Law: What Do You Do When…? (Co-author) NBI, 2003

“Employee Dishonesty, Commercial Surety and Multiple Claims: Recognizing the Right to Equitable Set-Off,” presentation to Fidelity Law Association, 2001

“Commercial Crime Insurance,” presentation to Erie Insurance Group, 1999

“Knowledgeable and Effective Handling of Surety Claims,” presentation to Mid-Atlantic Surety Association, 1998

“Fundamentals of Construction Law,” presentation to MICPEL Seminar, 1996, 1997, and 1999

“Pay When Paid Clauses,” presentation to the Mid-Atlantic Surety Association, 1996

“Surety Bonds and the Miller Act,” presentation to the Construction Financial Management Association, Greater Washington, D.C. Chapter, 1996

“Current Topics in Surety Law,” Maryland Chapter CPCU, May 1995

“Surety Bonds,” MICPEL,1995

Surety Bonds and Insurance in the Construction Industry (Co-Author), MICPEL, 1995

“The Surety’s Reliance on Financial Statements,” AICPA National Construction Industry Conference, December, 1994

“Accountants’ Third Party Liability to the Surety,” Mid-Atlantic Surety Association, 1994

“Accountants’ Third Party Liability to the Surety,” New Jersey Surety Association, 1994

Court of Appeals’ Decision in Ferguson De-fangs State’s Construction Trust Fund Law, Daily Record,1993

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

Schek v. NGM Ins. Co. (In Re. Schek), 397 Br. 752 (D. Md. 2008)

Beka Industries, Inc. v. Worcester County Board of Education, 419 Md. 194 (2011)

Berkley Ins. Company v. Morgan, et al., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167738 (D. Md. Oct. 11, 2017)

Old Republic Surety Company v. Consolidated Construction & Engineering Company, Inc., 2018 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 15336 (D.Md. January 30, 2018)

Prospect Capital Corp. v. Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Md., No. 282, 2018 Md. App. LEXIS 662 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. July 5, 2018)