Kobie is, first and foremost, a trial lawyer, with over twenty years of courtroom experience. Kobie has litigated cases in federal and state courts throughout the United States and internationally in the military commissions in Guantanamo Bay.
His first-chair trial experience in building cases for the government as a federal civil rights prosecutor and in fighting the government’s efforts as an assistant federal public defender provides him with an uncommon insight into trial practice. Kobie typically represents high-profile clients in high-stakes criminal investigations, civil litigation, internal investigations, or trials. In his lifelong effort to end mass incarceration and police brutality, Kobie also represents the wrongly convicted and the wrongly accused. Recognized by his peers for his trial acumen, Kobie teaches the art and science of trial lawyering to other trial lawyers around the country.
As a member of the Attorney General’s Honors Program, Kobie was a civil rights prosecutor at the United States Department of Justice for over four years. There, he conducted complex grand jury investigations involving fraud, false statements, obstruction of justice, and perjury charges as aspects of enforcing federal criminal civil rights statutes. While at the Department, he specialized in the prosecution of police brutality cases. Kobie was one of the prosecutors who successfully tried the largest case against federal correctional officers in the history of the Civil Rights Division. For that effort, he earned the Civil Rights Division’s Special Commendation for Outstanding Service. Kobie never lost a case as a federal civil rights prosecutor.
After his tenure as a federal civil rights prosecutor, Kobie sought out the challenge of defending against federal prosecutions as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Baltimore. As an AFPD, Kobie successfully represented clients charged with federal felonies, including fraud, false statements, obstruction of justice, bribery, tax, and perjury charges. Kobie won two-thirds of his trials. When trial was not in the client’s best interest, Kobie navigated through the demands of the government and obtained numerous favorable, pre-verdict outcomes for his clients, including dismissals of cases.
Before starting his legal career, Kobie served in the United States Peace Corps in Africa.
Representative Cases
Secured release from Guantanamo Bay prison of only child soldier ever prosecuted by the U.S. government in the modern era.
Obtained acquittal for tenured microbiology professor charged with two counts of sexual assault.
Obtained acquittal for client charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm.
Obtained dismissal of an assault case against a person, who had previously served 30 years for a wrongful murder conviction.
Obtained dismissal of a sexual assault charge filed against a world-renowned infectious disease expert.
Obtained dismissal of drug trafficking charges against client by obtaining a hung jury and persuading the government to decline to retry the case.
Obtained probation for one of the 1,100 plus people charged for conduct at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—the largest prosecution in DOJ’s over 150-year history.
Persuaded ethics regulators to dismiss ethics investigation against an elected official.
Persuaded federal prosecutors not to bring money laundering and wire fraud charges against a Russian-owned business.
Persuaded federal prosecutors not to bring fraud charges against a client and litigated novel 4th Amendment issue, which forced an Office of Inspector General to change its policy.
Persuaded state prosecutors to dismiss an assault case against an NFL executive.
Persuaded state prosecutors to dismiss a felony burglary charge against a high-profile lawyer.
Persuaded an inspector general to terminate investigation of a federal employee allegedly involved in international government contracting fraud.
Persuaded federal prosecutors to decline prosecution of a twenty-year veteran of a major law enforcement agency after multi-year and multi-agency federal fraud investigation.
Represented client freed by the federal government as part of the historic seven-prisoner swap between Iran and the United States.
Represented three men known as the “Harlem Park Three.” At 108 combined years of wrongful conviction, the triple exoneration of the men is the largest wrongful conviction case in American history. Case settled for a record amount.
Obtained over $13 million from the State of Maryland for five wrongfully convicted men, convincing the Maryland Board of Public Works to make such awards for the first time in 15 years.
Represents a man wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years because the Baltimore police coerced a teenage witness to falsely implicate him for the murder.
Represented a man wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 30 years because the Baltimore police illegally hid evidence of his innocence.
Represented the estate of a man wrongly targeted by the Washington, DC Police and incarcerated due to his mental illness in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Case settled for a record amount post-Cummings.
Represented a female college graduate in her Title IX case against a DC university for mishandling the investigation into her rape by a fellow student.
Obtained a court order solving the Special Education No Man’s Land Problem by making the District of Columbia responsible for providing services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to eligible DC residents who are incarcerated in federal facilities outside of DC.
Obtained a court order forcing Pennsylvania to follow the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act and allow blind people to vote remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Obtained favorable settlement for trauma surgeon after whistleblower and defamation trial against Louisiana State University.
Obtained favorable settlement in representation of stockbroker in a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration against Citigroup.
Obtained dismissal of claims filed against three Department of Justice lawyers in lawsuit filed by former DOJ lawyer.
Obtained favorable settlement against federal government agency for discriminating against and defaming an employee.
Awards
- Exceptional Service Award, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, 2023
- NACDL Stalwart Award, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2022
- Best Lawyers in America, Criminal Defense: General Practice, Washington, DC, 2020 – present
- “Super Lawyer” for White-Collar Criminal Defense, Washington, DC, Super Lawyers magazine, 2013 – present
- Maryland Daily Record Criminal Law Powerlist (Inaugural Edition), 2022
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America: White Collar, Criminal Defense, Investigations, 2025
- Lawdragon, 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Plaintiffs: Civil Rights, Washington, DC, 2022 – present
- Lawdragon, 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Litigation: Civil Rights and White-Collar Criminal Defense, Washington, DC, 2021 – present
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers, 2024
- “Top Lawyer” for Criminal Defense, Washingtonian magazine, 2017 – 2022
- “AV Preeminent” highest peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell, 2014 – present
- Commendation for Service at Federal Public Defender’s Office, D. Md., 2007
- U.S. Justice Department, Civil Rights Division, Special Commendation for Outstanding Service, 2003
- U.S. Justice Department, Civil Rights Division, Performance Award, 2003
News & Insights
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BGL’s Criminal Defense Section hosted criminal defense lawyers and changemakers for “Cocktails and Off-the-Record Conversations” at Maketto in DC.
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13 BGL attorneys were named to Lawdragon’s Leading Litigators in America guide for 2025.
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Fourteen attorneys named in Lawdragon’s 2024 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment lawyers guide.
Government Service
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Maryland, 2004-2007
Federal Prosecutor, U.S. Justice Department, Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section, 2000-2004
U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, Ivory Coast, 1995-1997