About Thiru Vignarajah
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Thiru is a litigation partner at DLA Piper with extensive federal, state, and local government experience. A former federal and Baltimore city prosecutor and Supreme Court clerk, Thiru served most recently as Deputy Attorney General for the State of Maryland. His practice focuses on complex trial and appellate litigation, white collar and internal investigations, and global regulatory compliance.
Biography
A native and resident of Baltimore, Thiru attended Woodlawn High School, Yale University, and Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude, won the Williston Negotiation competition, and was elected President of the Harvard Law Review. He then clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Stephen G. Breyer on the United States Supreme Court. Following his clerkships and after working at a DC law firm, Thiru served as a federal prosecutor in Maryland and as chief of major investigations at the State's Attorney's Office for Baltimore City, before being named Deputy Attorney General for Maryland.
A seasoned trial attorney, Thiru has prosecuted a number of complex, high-profile criminal cases in state and federal court. Securing convictions at trial, Thiru brought to justice a wealthy executive who set a rowhome on fire with his mistress and her five-year-old son sleeping inside; two gang members who killed a 12-year-old boy and shot three other teenagers; two co-conspirators who murdered a state witness; the mastermind of a series of armed robberies that killed a local businessman; and a BGF gang member who executed a rival drug dealer in broad daylight.
As Deputy Attorney General, Thiru was the lead author of statewide guidelines to end discriminatory profiling by police, making Maryland the first state in the country to issue such guidance. He was also responsible for post-conviction and appellate litigation in Adnan Syed v. Maryland. In addition, he led the drafting of a report by the Maryland Attorney General, "The State of Marriage Equality in America," which was cited by the Supreme Court in its landmark decision, Obergefell v. Hodges.
Before law school, Thiru also worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he helped shape a multi-sector strategy to combat HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.
RECOGNITIONS
Thiru has been praised for his commitment to public service by judges, prosecutors, defense attorneysand commentators alike. When Thiru was named Deputy Attorney General for Maryland, the police commissioner in Baltimore called Thiru a "once-in-a-generation lawyer and leader" and credited his unit with tackling "the hardest cases against the city's worst criminals." He was selected by the Daily Record as VIP 40 under 40 in 2012, was named by Center Maryland as Lawyer of the Year in 2014, and was honored in 2015 by the US Attorney for Maryland for his prosecution of the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) gang in Baltimore. He has also received the student award for Outstanding Professor of the Year three years in a row at the University of Maryland School of Law.
CIVIC AND CHARITABLE
Thiru was named to the public safety transition committee for the Mayor of Baltimore and serves on the boards of the Citizenship Law Related Education Program (which runs Baltimore City's teen court diversion program and the statewide high school mock trial program) and the Baltimore Curriculum Project (which operates several neighborhood charter schools in East Baltimore). He also helps coach the debate team at Frederick Douglass High School.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
As an adjunct professor and lecturer at The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland School of Law, and the University of Baltimore School of Law, Thiru has taught constitutional law, administrative law, law and education, and courses on the Supreme Court and crime in American cities. He has won multiple student awards for outstanding teaching. This spring, Thiru is teaching Law and Education at Maryland Law School and Cities, Crime, and the Constitution at Johns Hopkins.
