Elville & Associates, P.C.

Focus and practice areas

Elville and Associates is a Maryland law firm based in Columbia, with additional offices in Rockville and Annapolis. The work centers on estate planning, elder law, and the planning that families need when someone faces a disability or long-term care. The firm handles special needs planning, estate and trust administration, and estate and trust litigation as well.

The list of services runs wide within that focus. It covers wills, trusts, and powers of attorney. It also covers Medicaid asset protection trusts, Medicaid planning and qualification, living wills, and advance medical directives. For clients dealing with government programs, the firm addresses Social Security Disability Income, Supplemental Security Income, and veterans benefits.

Guardianship and fiduciary representation sit alongside the planning work. So do business succession planning and IRS tax controversy. In my opinion, that mix suits families who want one firm to handle both the plan and the administration that follows.

How the team is built

The firm names six attorneys on its site, with titles that show a layered structure. Stephen R. Elville, J.D., LL.M., is the Managing Principal. Rachel Seawell Vogel, Esq., holds the title of Senior Principal, and Shannon Ladner, J.D., is a Principal.

Below the principals, the firm lists Justin M. Ginsburg, J.D., LL.M., as a Senior Associate Attorney. Nick Carpenter, J.D., and Sara von Stein Echeverria, J.D., round out the group as Associate Attorneys. Two of the named attorneys, Elville and Ginsburg, hold an LL.M. in addition to a law degree.

Stephen Elville is a member of the Academy of Special Needs Planners, which lines up with the firm's special needs planning work. Shannon Ladner's practice covers estate planning and probate, elder law, and business and corporate matters. Sara von Stein Echeverria works on estate planning and probate. That spread means clients can be matched to an attorney whose focus fits the matter at hand.

What the titles suggest about the structure

A firm that separates principals, senior associates, and associates tends to route work by complexity. As a reviewer, I read the mix of a Managing Principal, a Senior Principal, and staff associates as a sign that both the involved cases and the routine ones have a place to land. The firm does not publish full bios for every attorney, so the titles are the clearest guide the site gives.

Where the firm works

The firm serves central Maryland, the Washington metro area, and the Eastern Shore. The main office is in Columbia, which sits between Baltimore and Washington and gives the firm a central point for that reach. Rockville extends coverage toward the Washington side, and Annapolis brings the firm closer to the Bay and the Eastern Shore.

The Annapolis office runs by appointment only. That is a common setup for a satellite location, and it lets the firm keep a presence in Anne Arundel County without staffing a full daily office. Clients in those areas can meet closer to home rather than travel to Columbia for every appointment.

How the firm works with clients

The firm describes a team-based educational process with clients. In plain terms, that means walking a client through the choices in a plan rather than handing over documents to sign. For estate planning and elder law, where the rules around Medicaid and disability benefits get technical, that approach can help a client understand what a plan actually does.

The firm also runs what it calls a Client Care Program for ongoing plan maintenance. Estate plans go stale when laws change or when a family's circumstances shift, so a structured way to revisit a plan has real value. A signed will or trust from years ago may no longer match a client's assets or wishes, and a maintenance program is built to catch that.

These two features, the educational process and the maintenance program, tell you something about how the firm sees the relationship. It treats a plan as something to keep current, not a one-time transaction. In my opinion, that fits the kind of long-horizon work that estate planning and elder law involve.

What the record shows

The firm's public material is consistent about its focus. Every practice area it lists falls within estate planning, elder law, and the administration and litigation that grow out of them. There is no scattershot list of unrelated fields, which points to a firm that has picked its lanes.

The site does not state a founding year, and it does not publish law schools or bar admission dates for its attorneys. What it does confirm is a named team of six, a legal entity registered as Elville & Associates, P.C., and three Maryland office locations. Prospective clients can verify the attorneys and offices directly, which matches the evidence-first standard this directory holds firms to.

For a Maryland resident weighing an estate plan, a Medicaid question, or a special needs trust, the firm presents a clear and focused profile. The practice areas are defined, the team is named with titles, and the client process is spelled out. Those are the details a reader can act on, and the firm makes them available without dressing them up.