States Attorney.

Erek L. Barron

States Attorney.
Erek L. Barron – State's Attorney for the District of Maryland

Erek Barron - State's Attorney for the District of Maryland

Erek L. Barron takes a seat as the new Chief Federal Law Enforcement Official for the District of Maryland. He was sworn in by Chief United States District Judge James K. Bredar on October 7, 2021, after being confirmed into the Senate’s position by Voice Vote on September 30. President Joseph R. Biden nominated United States Attorney Erek L. Barron in July of 2021, following the resignation of former U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner served as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland prior to the appointment of Top Federal Prosecutor Barron. Subsequently, Erek L. Barron made history as the first African-American to be confirmed as the Chief Federal Law Enforcement Official for the District of Maryland. Moreover, he is the first Democrat to serve as a presidentially-appointed U.S. Attorney for the state in the past 20 years. Erek L. Barron shall serve as the 49th United States Attorney for the District of Maryland under the tenure of President Joe Biden.

Educational Background and Bar & Court Admissions

U.S. Attorney Erek Barron is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park, from where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in August 1996. He subsequently earned his Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University Law School in June 1999 and an advanced law degree (LL.M.) focused on International and National Security Law from the Georgetown University Law Center in June 2007. Top Federal Prosecutor Barron was granted admission into the bar in the State of Maryland in December 1999 and the District of Columbia in September 2003. Furthermore, U.S. Attorney Barron has been admitted to practice in several courts, including all state courts in Maryland, all courts in the District of Columbia, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in 2003, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in March 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in December 2011, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine in October 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth and Third Circuit in December 2010 and June 2015, respectively, and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in October 2019.

Education

Bar Admissions

Court Admissions

Legal Career – State’s Attorney’s Office

Beginning his legal career as a Summer Associate, U.S. Attorney Barron served in the McGuiness & Williams, LLP in 1998. A year later, he began serving as a Law Clerk at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, from January to July 1999. United States Attorney Barron then became a self-employed Contract Attorney, working in various Washington, DC Metro Area locations before being appointed as an Assistant State’s Attorney at the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office in July 2001. For the next three years, until June 2004, U.S. Attorney Barron worked in the District Court and Juvenile Sections of the Office of the State’s Attorney, prosecuting a wide range of misdemeanor and felony cases. Following his service at the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron moved to Baltimore. He became an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Baltimore City Attorney’s Office. From June 2004 to August 2006, Top Federal Prosecutor Barron developed expertise in prosecuting violent crimes and felonies while working in the General Felony Section and the Firearms Investigative Violence Enforcement (FIVE) – a specialized team of prosecutors assigned to target repeat violent offenders and gang members that utilize guns.

Legal Career – Federal Government & Project Volunteer Work

In August 2006, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron joined the United States Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney in the Office’s Domestic Security Section in the Criminal Division. He served in the position for about a year, assisting in various investigations and prosecutions of regional and national violent gangs. In June 2007, U.S. Attorney Barron was called to serve as a Crime Policy Advisor/Counsel to the Crimes and Drugs Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate, under then-Chairman Joseph R. Biden, Jr. As a Crime Policy Advisor, he was in charge of the policy and legislation in the areas of violent crime and gangs, along with the law enforcement and assisting with the oversight and nominations within the United States Department of Justice and in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A year through his service, from 2008 to 2009, U.S. Attorney Barron was appointed to be a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Project that focused on law enforcement-related policy and funding and the review and nominations of the Justice Department.

Legal Career – Private Practice

Shifting out of government service and into private practice, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron established Barron & Associates, LLC in March 2010. He worked as a solo practitioner who focused on general litigation and providing advice to small businesses for the next two years. Top Federal Prosecutor Barron continued to work in private practice for the subsequent years prior to his appointment in the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. In 2012, he became a Partner at the Whiteford Taylor & Preston LLP and became in charge of complex civil, administrative, and criminal matters in state and federal courts.

Memberships in Bar Associations

Apart from performing duties as a prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron served as a Board Member of several Bar Associations throughout his legal career. In 2010, he became a Board Member of the Prince George’s County Bar Association and the Ridgewood Park Homeowners’ Association. In 2012, U.S. Attorney Barron began serving as a Board Member of the Lake Arbor Foundation, Inc. One of his earliest commitments to being a Board Member was in the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., where he served for eight years, from 2006 to 2014. Following the end of his term in the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., U.S. Attorney Erek Barron was appointed president of the J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association. He initially served as its President-elect for a year before being officially named president. Currently, U.S. Attorney Barron is a Board Member of Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. Center for Justice, Ethics & Education of the University of Maryland at College Park. In addition, he is serving as the President-elect of the Maryland State Bar Association, where he once served as its Secretary. The United States Attorney Barron was also previously a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, where he served as a member of the Maryland Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council and co-authored bipartisan legislation designed to enhance public safety, reduce corrections spending, and reinvest savings in evidence-based strategies to decrease crime and recidivism. On top of this, U.S. Attorney Barron had numerous contributions to developing legislative measures, particularly those addressing criminal justice and behavioral health, such as bills curbing opioid abuse and mandating treatment for opioid addiction and services for mentally ill individuals. United States Attorney Barron was also a member of the Monumental City Bar Association, the Bar Association of Montgomery County, and the American Bar Association.

Notable Litigated Matters by U.S. Attorney Barron

The legal practice of U.S. Attorney Barron focused on general criminal, civil, and administrative litigation. Among the most significant litigated matters he handled include a pro bono case involving an appeal before the Delaware Supreme Court following a murder and death sentence conviction. The prosecution resulted in the first exoneration of a death row prisoner from Delaware’s death row and the second to win a new trial due to prosecutorial misconduct. U.S. Attorney Barron also previously worked as a sole counsel in a 2004 violent crimes prosecution in Baltimore City, Maryland, which involved a number of complex legal and practical issues but resulted in the defendant’s conviction, with the sentencing of 50-year incarceration. Working on an array of federal appeals, U.S. Attorney Barron worked on a 2016 case that raised constitutional issues concerning zoning and land use decisions by a local municipality, a 2017 case involving the designation of “career offender” for purposes of federal sentencing, and a 2014 case concerning the scope of expert testimony in a criminal case.

As a prosecutor focused on general criminal, civil, and administrative litigation with an excellent background in policymaking, U.S. Attorney Barron has made several memoranda or policy statements, including providing contributions to reports in the Ethics Docket and testifying before the Maryland General Assembly.

10 most significant litigated matters handled by Attorney Erek Barron

  1. McCoy v. United States (2013-2015)
  2. Jones v. United States (2011-2012)
  3. United States v. Garcia (2014)
  4. Brown v. United States (2013)
  5. United States v. Collins (2016-2018)
  6. Siena Corp. v. Mayor & Rockville Md. (2016-2017)
  7. Siena Corp. v. Mayor & Rockville Md. (2017-2018)
  8. State v. Kendall Jones (2004-2005)
  9. Bruni v. City of Pittsburgh (2016-2019)
  10. State v. Charles Ricardo Reeder (2012)

Further details regarding the above litigations may be found in the public questionnaire accessible here.

Professional and Academic Honors & Awards

Given his breadth and depth of experience in prosecution and administrative work, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron has received multiple honors and awards, including academic scholarships such as the Maryland State’s Attorneys’ Association Scholarship Award in May 2004. Furthermore, he has received numerous recognitions for his service to the public, including being awarded three Citations for Outstanding Public Service from the Maryland House of Delegates, the Maryland Senate, and the Governor of Maryland, all in June 2004. The United States Attorney Barron was also honored as a Fellow by the Maryland State Bar Association Leadership Academy in May 2005, and has also been recognized in The Maryland Daily Record VIP List in 2012; in the National Bar Association Nation’s Best Advocated Under 40, also in 2012; and in the Prince George’s County Social Innovation Fund 40 Under 40 in 2013. Top Federal Prosecutor Barron also received leadership and prosecutorial awards, including the Equal Justice Associates’ Leadership Award by the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau in May 2010; the Maryland Retailers Association Legislative All-Star Award, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office Legislator Community Award, and the NAACP, Prince George’s County Chapter, President’s Award, and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Legislator of the Year in June 2019; and the Health Association of Maryland 2020 Legislator of the Year Award in June 2020.

Published Writings and Public Statements by Attorney Barron

Office Jurisdiction

As the Chief Federal Law Enforcement Official for the District of Maryland, United States Attorney Erek L. Barron oversees the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases in the District of Maryland, which are brought on behalf of the United States. Moreover, he is in charge of leading a staff of approximately 98 Assistant U.S. Attorneys and 73 support personnel in handling a high volume of cases focusing on civil rights violation, cybercrime, domestic and international terrorism, financial and healthcare fraud, gang violence, narcotics trafficking, organized crime, and public corruption.

Contact Details of Attorney Barron

Full Name: Erek Lawrence Barron
District/State: Maryland
Public email ID: ebarron@wtplaw.com
erek.barron@house.state.md.us 

Baltimore Branch

36 S. Charles Street 4th Fl.
Baltimore, MD 21201

(410) 209-4800
Main

Greenbelt Branch Office

6406 Ivy Lane Suite 800
Greenbelt, MD 20770

(301) 344-4433
Main

Social Media Profiles of Erek Barron

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Updated: February 16, 2022

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