About Matthew Zernhelt Of Counsel

Matthew Zernhelt has successfully practiced at every level of court in Maryland and has successfully opposed certiorari before the Supreme Court of the United States. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. He has won in the appellate courts against adversaries such as the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, the Baltimore Police Department, the Baltimore City Department of Law, and traditional “big law” adversaries. His appellate opinions have created new law in areas such as federal preemption, drug policy, attorney privileges, access to government records, police accountability, and more.

Matthew is a co-founder of the Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT), where he successfully directed many civil rights cases as well as impact litigation on behalf of the community. At BALT, he also directed community legal education and created access to justice programming. Matthew started his litigation career at Maryland Legal Aid providing direct client representation, after being awarded the organization’s public interest fellowship. He worked for Maryland Legal Aid for several more years following his fellowship and then even maintained a pro bono practice with the organization after leaving. Matthew also has extensive experience developing restorative justice programming in Baltimore as the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization. During law school, he clerked for two years with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. Matthew went to law school at the University of Baltimore School of Law after studying criminal justice at the University of Maryland.