D. Bruce Poole Named Chair of Board of Visitors of R Adams Crowley Shock Trauma Center at University of Maryland Medical Center

D. Bruce Poole, Esq., principal of the Poole Law Group in Hagerstown and Frederick and a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates, has been appointed chair of the Board of Visitors of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). A member of the Shock Trauma board for over a decade, Poole assumes his new position Jan.1, 2022.

“Bruce is an excellent choice to lead this board and guide Shock Trauma through the next decade as we strive to build on our record of quality of care, leadership, innovation and research,” said Thomas M. Scalea, MD, FACS, MCCM, the Honorable Francis X. Kelly Distinguished Professor of Trauma Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Shock Trauma’s Physician-in-Chief. “We are looking forward to Bruce sharing his time, talent and treasure as our chair.”

A graduate of Washington and Lee University, Poole, 62, has practiced law for over 35 years. He served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for 12 years, from 1987 to 1999, representing District 2B which covers Washington County. He became the youngest member to serve as House Majority Leader, from 1990 to 1993.

“In my legal practice, I have seen firsthand the amazing work that Dr. Scalea and the Shock Trauma staff do every day to save the lives of people with devastating traumatic injuries,” said Poole, whose firm focuses on trucking litigation as well as mass tort litigation. “I have been privileged and honored to support their efforts for many years as a board member and now as board chair.”

During a long career of public service, Poole has served on the Governor’s Commission for the Licensing of Video Lottery and as Chair of the State of Maryland’s Task Force on the Study of Alcohol Regulation, Enforcement, Safety and Public Health. Most recently, he was appointed to the 2021 Governor's Salary Commission for a four-year term. Poole also served as a member of the Washington County Bar Bench Committee and the Maryland Judicial Elections Monitoring Committee. He is co-counsel to the Maryland State Firemen's Association.

In 1990, Poole was admitted to the Maryland Bar Foundation, an organization dedicated to fostering and maintaining honor and integrity within the profession, and was named Outstanding Young Marylander by the Maryland Jaycees in 1991. He is a former member of the Maryland State Ethics Commission and a past Faculty Member of the Maryland State Bar Association course on Conduct and Professionalism He has been named by The National Trial Lawyers to the Top 100 Civil Trial Attorneys’ List and in 2017, received a lifetime achievement membership in America's Top 100 Attorneys. He is also a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, honorary organizations for the top trial lawyers in America, as well as the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, National Trial Lawyers, Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyers Association, the American Association for Justice, the American Association for Justice's Trucking Litigation Group, and the Maryland Association for Justice.

Poole served as a member of the Board of Directors of the 13-hospital University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) from 2008 to 2019.

Poole and his wife, Kathy, formerly Executive Director of the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, have been married for 30 years and have one son. They also have a home in Baltimore, and their son attended Loyola Blakefield.