The judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland are pleased to announce their appointment of Brendan A. Hurson to the position of United States Magistrate Judge.  Mr. Hurson will take the oath of office during an informal ceremony on February 7, 2022.  A formal ceremony will be held at a later date in the Baltimore Courthouse.

Mr. Hurson received his undergraduate degree in 2000 from Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island where he majored in Public and Community Service Studies with a minor in Black Studies.  After college, he served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in California as an advocate for poor and marginalized communities in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.  He later taught middle school at St. Thomas More School in Washington, D.C. 

In 2005, Mr. Hurson graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Maryland School of Law where he was a member of the Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender & Class, competed as a member of the National Trial Team, served as president of the Student Bar Association, and was active in the clinical law program.

After graduating law school, Mr. Hurson served as a law clerk to the Honorable Margaret B. Seymour of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.  He then worked as an associate at a small law firm in Baltimore where he practiced civil and criminal litigation in state and federal courts.  

In 2007, Mr. Hurson joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Baltimore where he defended individuals charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses in Maryland’s federal court.  He was named Senior Litigation Counsel in 2015.  In 2017, Mr. Hurson joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the United States Virgin Islands where he represented people charged with violating federal and territorial laws on the islands of St. John, St. Thomas, and St. Croix.  Mr. Hurson returned to Maryland in late 2018 to resume his service at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Baltimore.  

United States Magistrate Judges are appointed by the district judges for a term of eight years and are eligible for reappointment to successive terms.  The position filled by Mr. Hurson became open when U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah L. Boardman was commissioned as a United States District Judge on June 25, 2021.  In anticipation of Judge Boardman’s elevation, a merit selection panel composed of attorneys and other members of the community reviewed all qualified applications before recommending a slate of candidates to the full bench for review.  Mr. Hurson was selected from this slate.