Michael Starr

Counsel, Akin Gump
Washington, DC

Michael Starr is Counsel at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP where his practice focuses on complex civil and white collar criminal litigation before state courts, federal courts and in administrative proceedings. Before entering private practice, Mr. Starr served as a trial and appellate attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS). At PDS, Mr. Starr represented indigent criminal defendants in cases ranging in seriousness from narcotics trafficking to homicide. He also served as a supervising attorney in the Felony Section of PDS’s Trial Division. In that capacity, Mr. Starr conducted biweekly training sessions for the agency’s junior trial lawyers and closely supervised those attorneys as they handled felony cases.

Mr. Starr was an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center from 1998 to 2000. As a Prettyman Fellow, he represented indigent criminal defendants in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia and taught classes on evidence, criminal procedure and trial practice. Mr. Starr has guest lectured at numerous law schools including Georgetown University Law Center, Howard University Law School and Yale Law School. He has also served as faculty at the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.

Mr. Starr is a graduate of Towson State University and The George Washington University Law School.  He also holds an LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center.