Michele D. Hall

Michele D. Hall joined Brown, Goldstein & Levy in October 2023. She previously served for five years as a public defender at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. During her time at OPD, Michele worked as a trial and appellate attorney. As a trial attorney, Michele represented children in Prince George’s County charged in juvenile court and children charged as adults. As an appellate attorney, Michele worked on general criminal appeals and focused on statewide juvenile appellate strategy. She regularly argued before both the Appellate Court of Maryland and the Supreme Court of Maryland. In addition to her case work, Michele was an advocate for ending the school-to-prison pipeline. She represented her clients in school disciplinary and special education proceedings, was a member of the Prince George’s County Board of Education School to Prison Pipeline Workgroup, and conducted trainings for juvenile defenders across the country on addressing school policing as part of their individual representation.

At the Office of the Public Defender, Michele also engaged in statewide policy work, regularly testifying before the Maryland General Assembly, meeting with legislators, and working with fellow stakeholders. She supported several juvenile policy initiatives including the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, ending the practice of automatically charging children as adults, and the fight to remove police from schools. During the 2023 legislative session, Michele worked closely with legislators in the Maryland General Assembly to pass House Bill 1071, which prohibits law enforcement from relying on the odor of cannabis to conduct a stop or search of a person or vehicle. Michele won OPD’s annual Bryan Stevenson award for her work to pass HB 1071.

Michele attended Harvard Law School and graduated cum laude in 2017. While at HLS, Michele was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where she represented low-income tenants in eviction proceedings in Boston Housing Court. Michele was also a proud member of the Harvard Black Law Student Association. After graduating law school, Michele clerked for the Honorable Catharine F. Easterly on the D.C. Court of Appeals.