• Warrant recall and failure to appear. A missed District Court date in Towson, Essex, or Catonsville—or a missed Circuit Court date in Towson—can produce a bench warrant, a separate failure-to-appear charge, and an MVA hold if the original matter was traffic-related. The first job is to get the warrant recalled and a new court date set.
• Pretrial release and District Court bail review. After an arrest, a District Court commissioner sets initial conditions. Counsel can seek a judge’s review of those conditions, argue for personal recognizance or a lower bond, and address no-contact orders and testing conditions that do not fit the facts.
• Habeas corpus — Circuit Court review of detention. When District Court leaves a client held without bond, or on a bond that cannot be posted, a petition for a writ of habeas corpus asks a Circuit Court judge in Towson to take a second look. That hearing is often the difference between waiting in the detention center and preparing the case from home.
• Expungement of charges that did not end in a conviction. Criminal Procedure § 10-105 covers acquittals, dismissals, nolle prosequi, stet, and many probation-before-judgment dispositions. Waiting periods apply. A court may grant a § 10-105 petition earlier for good cause.
• Expungement of qualifying convictions. Criminal Procedure § 10-110 covers a listed set of convictions after the sentence—including probation—has been satisfied. Waiting periods are generally 5 years for many misdemeanors, longer for second-degree assault and certain felonies, and 15 years for specified domestically related crimes. There is no general good-cause shortcut on the conviction track.
• Early expungement. On a § 10-105 record, a petition can be filed before the ordinary waiting period when good cause—often documented hardship in employment, housing, or licensing—is shown. That path does not convert an ineligible conviction into an eligible one.
• Probation violations and modifications. A claimed violation of probation can mean a warrant, a detention hold, and exposure to the original suspended sentence. Counsel can contest the violation, present mitigation, and seek a modification of conditions or an early termination when the file supports it.

These matters often sit on top of an underlying charge—DUI, a drug count, an assault, or a must-appear traffic citation. The underlying case still has to be defended.