Who’s Who in Law 2021 — The Baltimore-area legal professionals you should know
Baltimore Business Journal, May 2021
George Nemphos comes from a family of entrepreneurs.
“It’s something deeply rooted in my code,” he said.
His Greek immigrant family at various times owned restaurants, an accounting firm, an auto dealership and a hunting and fishing store.
“My grandfather owned a Hallmark store in New Jersey,” he said. “I grew up around a family that was filled with the entrepreneurial spirit. They enjoyed building companies and businesses.”
For his part, Nemphos started his own law firm, Nemphos Braue, with partner Tim Braue. He wants to help carry on that spirit of entrepreneurship by focusing the four-year-old firm’s efforts on working with startups and early-stage companies that are trying to get to the next level. He said he didn’t have those same opportunities when he was an attorney at Duane Morris LLP.
Nemphos Braue works with companies in numerous areas, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, intellectual property and government affairs. The firm’s client list includes well-known emerging firms such as Tessemae’s, an Essex-based organic salad dressing maker; Amalgam Rx, the Delaware-based acquirer of Baltimore-based digital health firm Avhana Health Inc.; and BarkSocial, a 25,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor craft beer bar and dog park in Bethesda.
“I really found that I enjoyed the interaction with the entrepreneur and felt that was where we could be of value,” he said. “It’s a bit of a rollercoaster — you have to like rollercoasters. You have to enjoy the ride. You have to enjoy the interaction.’’
The 16-person Nemphos Braue team continues to grow, with plans to hire two to three more people in the next few weeks. The firm is also expanding by taking its entire floor at 210 W. Pennsylvania Ave, which will give it more office space and an entertainment area.
Nemphos is also busy growing the firm’s reputation. He’s had regular speaking engagements where he talks about “economic herd immunity,” the idea that businesses can be stronger by working together and protecting each other. For example, companies can identify opportunities within a distribution chain and figure out how to best get products manufactured and delivered, or work with banks and advisers to find ways to stay in business.
Nemphos said his law firm’s goal is to build an ecosystem of entrepreneurial companies in the mid-Atlantic, which he says is key to growing the overall economy.
“We’re excited about what Maryland and the mid-Atlantic has to offer,” he said. “Through Covid, these entrepreneurs dug in, they kept going and firing on all cylinders.”
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Read more about George Nemphos.
