Michael Stark

Michael Stark comes to the firm after reaching out to Andy Jezic about a murder case. The client was an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran (and truly, a war-hero) who had defended himself and his family after coming under attack by a Baltimore gang member. There was just one problem: the client didn’t have the means to afford a private attorney. Michael worked hard to tell the client’s story in the media, and after appearing on national radio and cable news programs, he drew notice from a national gun rights advocacy organization that fully funded the defense. That’s Michael in a nutshell. He views lawyering as problem-solving. He knows people are facing frightening and difficult challenges, and that is true whether your case is marijuana possession or DUI, or if your case is armed robbery or murder. Nobody wants to be standing alone before a judge while a prosecutor does everything possible to convict them. The truth is, Michael usually does not want it to come to that either. That’s why he worked out a plea in a car-jacking case that had the accused receive a stet, on the condition that they enroll in community college and submit their grades in six months. And that explains why he asks so much from his DUI clients: he knows that for you to receive the best result, you need be in a position to impress the judge when you arrive to court. Maybe the most unique aspect of Michael’s background is that he has been in the same shoes as his clients. He’s even been beaten up by police and gone to jail! (Mike has always fought for the dispossessed and underserved... Before turning to law, he had a background in activism that often got him into "good trouble".) And way back in1994, Michael was cited for DUI - while riding in the passenger seat of his car! A public defender argued the case for him, the charge was dismissed in court. The injustice of that arrest and the anxiety over being falsely accused led him to his career in criminal defense.