After graduating from the American University Washington College of Law in 1993, Lisa Harris Jones practiced law at two of Maryland’s most reputable law firms in Baltimore City. She focused her practice on government relations and lobbying, business, real estate financing, and land use law representing both small and large for-profit and nonprofit entities, as well as the City of Baltimore and many of its agencies and related quasi-public corporations (i.e., the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Baltimore Development Corporation).

 

Following the 2000 Session of the Maryland General Assembly Jones pursued her dream of opening a law firm with a concentration in government relations and lobbying, business, real estate financing, and land use law, founding the Law Offices of Lisa M. Harris, LLC.

 

In the firm’s early years, Jones was closely involved in legislative issues affecting minority- and women-owned businesses. As counsel to the Maryland Minority Contractors Association, Inc. (MMCA) and the Baltimore Hispanic Business Group, she represented their interests in relation to Baltimore City Council Bill 00-211, Minority and Small Business Opportunity, which passed in the fall of 2000 after the City of Baltimore’s minority business enterprise/women business enterprise (MBE/WBE) program was struck down by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for lack of a disparity study.

 

During the 2001 Session of the Maryland General Assembly, Jones helped secure passage of legislation that increased the procurement goals for the State of Maryland’s minority business enterprise program from 14 to 25 percent. Later, in 2003, she served on Lieutenant Governor Michael S. Steele’s Task Force on Minority Business Enterprise Reform and was appointed to the City of Baltimore’s MBE/WBE Certification Appeals Board.

 

Over the next several years, Jones established a reputation as an attorney and lobbyist capable of effecting real change in the legislative process, thanks to her tireless efforts representing her clients, regardless of her client’s size or the perceived power of her opponent. As a solo practitioner, Jones represented a wide range of business interests before the Maryland General Assembly and the Baltimore City Council, including, but not limited to, a major telecommunications provider, a gaming entity, several nonprofit institutions, and a technology company.

 

In 2008, Sean R. Malone joined the firm, establishing Harris Jones & Malone, LLC. Immediately prior to joining the firm, Malone served as Deputy Legislative Officer in the Governor’s Office of Legislative Affairs under Governor Martin O’Malley. In this role, Malone assisted in creating, drafting, and lobbying for the Governor’s legislative agenda and oversaw agency legislative efforts in labor, collective bargaining, public safety, economic development, veterans’ affairs, administrative law, and judicial proceedings.

 

In addition to his role in the Legislative Office, Malone also acted as the State’s Chief Labor Negotiator, successfully drafting and negotiating contracts for each of the State’s seven collective bargaining units.
Before joining the Governor’s Office, Malone was Labor Commissioner for the City of Baltimore from September 2003 to January 2007.During his tenure as Labor Commissioner, Malone also served as a member of the Mayor’s government relations team, representing the City’s Administration before the legislature in Annapolis during the 2005 and 2006 Sessions of the Maryland General Assembly and before the Baltimore City Council.

 

Prior to his tenure as Labor Commissioner, Malone was a member of the Baltimore Police Department command staff for more than three and a half years, serving as the Department’s Chief Legal Counsel and Chief of Professional Standards. In this role, he provided legal advice to the Police Commissioner on employment, criminal, and administrative law issues. He litigated cases before administrative trial boards, the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, as well as the Appellate Court and Supreme Court of Maryland.

 

A nearly 30-year member of the Maryland Bar, Malone first honed his advocacy skills as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Baltimore County after he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

 

The combination of Jones’ private-sector experience and Malone’s public-sector experience proved to be the perfect mix. Now, with a strong team of hardworking attorneys and government affairs professionals, Harris Jones & Malone is recognized as one of Maryland’s premier law and government relations firms, representing clients across a wide range of industries throughout the State.

 

Harris Jones & Malone celebrated its 25th anniversary in May 2025. As founder, Jones was the first, and remains the only African American woman in the State of Maryland to own and manage a law practice centered around government relations and lobbying, procurement, and labor relations at both the state and local levels.

 

In 2024, Jones became the first woman and the first person of color to top the earnings list for registered lobbyists in Maryland, a feat made possible by the confidence the firm’s clients place in her and the Harris Jones & Malone team. She remained at the top of this list in both 2025 and 2026.