Harold “Hal” Phillip Dwin, a Baltimore attorney whose career spanned five decades and who was known for representing “the little guy,” died on Sept. 3. He was 86.
Dwin’s ties to Jewish life were long-standing. The Pikesville resident joined Beth Am Synagogue in the 1970s, when the late Dr. Louis Kaplan was its spiritual leader, and remained connected there.
“He had a deep sense of Jewish identity and Jewish peoplehood,” said Rabbi Daniel Burg, who gave the eulogy at Dwin’s funeral. “He loved Beth Am, cared deeply about Israel and liked to debate issues and learn.”
Burg said Dwin had become a friend in recent years, often discussing Jewish communal concerns and world events. “He was a force — really smart, with an edgy sense of humor,” the rabbi said. “He was proud of the family he and Mara [his wife] built together.”
Born on March 22, 1939, in Brooklyn to George and Belle Dwin, he moved to Baltimore as an infant.
His father ran a grocery store on Druid Hill Avenue, and the family lived behind the store before moving to Springdale Avenue. He attended Talmudical Academy of Baltimore briefly, then transferred to public school and graduated from City College High School. He earned a history degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1960.
After college, Dwin chose officer candidate school and served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant from 1960 to 1963. Much of his tour was based in San Diego, with time in Japan, the Philippines and the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
His son Bradley Dwin recalled hearing that, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the water supply to Guantánamo Bay was cut, “they drank warm beer and waited for orders that never came,” he said.
Dwin likely didn’t see combat, his son said, but his military experience left him disciplined and organized.
After a short period as an insurance adjuster, Dwin entered the University of Maryland School of Law in the late 1960s. He began as one of Baltimore City’s early public defenders.
“His whole philosophy was fighting for the little guy,” Bradley Dwin said. “After working on the insurance side, he made it his mission to work against insurance companies and help the people who needed it most.”
In 1977, he helped launch a practice that became Cohen & Dwin. Over time, he focused on personal injury and workers’ compensation while maintaining a reputation for careful preparation and direct advocacy. He worked until his mid-80s, retiring in 2024.
“He loved practicing law,” Bradley Dwin said. “He was most comfortable in his office, in court or with clients. He felt it kept him sharp.”
“He just had more energy than people 20 years younger,” said his stepson Paul Kappelman. “He needed something to do with that energy, and the work gave him purpose. The firm was both professional and close-knit — he had employees who stayed a long time, and he liked building a culture where people felt like family.”
Bradley Dwin said that his father used a simple test when interviewing prospective hires: What matters most to you? “If family wasn’t in the top two or three, he probably wasn’t going to hire you.”
That same emphasis on values shaped his role as an educator. “He was a great negotiator,” Bradley Dwin said. “Teaching contracts and negotiation fit him.”
Dwin’s civic involvement ran alongside his legal work. He led the Maryland ACLU chapter and later served on the state grievance commission, which provides ethics oversight for lawyers.
Burg said those roles matched Dwin’s view that accountability and fair process matter in law. “He believed everyone deserved representation,” Bradley Dwin added. “That’s how he ran his firm.”
Outside the office, Dwin favored movement over idleness. He sailed as a young father and raced sailboats before turning to powerboats later in life.
With Mara, boating became a weekend routine on the Chesapeake and a way to take short coastal trips; some winters, they brought the boat to Florida.
“Boating was part of their lifestyle,” Kappelman said. Golf came later — around his mid-60s — but quickly became a regular pursuit. He also loved sports cars. “How many 86-year-olds do you see driving a red Corvette?” Kappelman said. “It suited his energy.”
Travel was a constant. Among many trips, he visited Israel in the late 1990s. He and his first wife traveled to the Soviet Union on a special tour in the early 1980s.
Those who knew him remember an easy manner and a love of conversation. “He was always telling stories, always funny, always had a joke,” Bradley Dwin said.
Burg said the community will miss Dwin’s presence and voice. “He had passion for justice, for his people, for the life he built,” the rabbi said.
Asked how his father would want to be remembered, Bradley Dwin offered the same standard his father used in life: “As someone who put family first, and who helped people because it was the right thing to do.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
He was a wonderful father, step father, father to the son’s friends & a great husband. He treated me like I was his queen. He deeply loved & was loved deeply. Family first, boating, Corvettes, and wines. He loved to read about all. He also loved all the pets brought to his & my home even though he was not raised with pets. We will miss him dearly.
Thank you to all that have been kind & thoughtful to our family.
Hugs & kisses
Mara Dwin