Michael Abrams

Michael Abrams rejoined Brown, Goldstein & Levy in March 2026. He is an experienced litigator with a diverse practice covering disability rights, criminal law, commercial litigation, employment discrimination, police misconduct, and all kinds of appeals.

Michael has argued in federal and state appeals courts, most recently as counsel for the ACLU of Maryland at oral argument before the Fourth Circuit on a class action challenge to ICE enforcement practices. At the trial level, he has played a key role in significant team achievements, including: a novel ruling on the police killing of a person in a mental health crisis; state compensation for a man wrongfully sentenced to life in prison; and transformation of a university’s accessibility practices for students with disabilities.

Previously, Michael was the 2021-2022 Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. Appellate Advocacy Fellow at the Public Justice Center. As the Murnaghan Fellow, Michael served as lead counsel on public interest appeals, and his amicus briefs influenced high court appellate outcomes. Michael served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and to Judge Kathleen Cardone of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Michael is also an advocate for the harm reduction movement and the rights of people with substance use disorders. He previously served as a Senior Attorney on the Harm Reduction Legal Project at the Network for Public Health Law. In that role, he built legal and policy expertise in evidence-based public health interventions to redress drug-related harm.

Michael graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with honors, where he was the Executive Notes Editor of the Michigan Law Review and a teaching assistant in the legal writing program. During law school, Michael was a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic and published research on legal and public health issues raised by the opioid overdose epidemic.