Attorney Profile
MORGAN E. LEIGH
A fearless advocate.
Prior to joining Scrofano Law PC, Ms. Leigh was a solo practitioner who specialized in criminal and DUI defense. During her time as a solo practitioner, she represented thousands of individuals charged with crimes in Maryland and the District of Columbia in a variety of offenses ranging from traffic offenses to serious violent felonies.
In 2020, she joined Scrofano Law PC as a Trial Attorney and started the firm’s Maryland Practice.
She is licensed to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland. Ms. Leigh is also licensed to practice law in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, a federal court that hears appeals from the District of Maryland. She is an active member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the National College for DUI Defense as well as the DUI Defense Lawyer’s Association.
She has spent her life and career fighting back against bullies. Defending clients is more than a job for Ms. Leigh. It is a passion and a belief system born out of her own difficult experience as a young law student.
She has experienced first-hand the power police can exercise over our lives and futures.
As a student at Georgia State University’s College of Law, her and a friend got into a dispute with a taxi driver who refused to turn the meter on and refused to pay the driver who attempted to bully two young women late at night. Later on that evening, her life changed when she awoke to a knock on the door and police demanded she exit the apartment as he threatened to shoot her dog if the dog continued to bark. The officer accused her of not paying the taxi driver, refused to listen to her side of the story, and when she asserted her right to silence, the officer claimed she was resisting and violently slammed her to the ground.
She was subsequently hospitalized in custody and later charged with misdemeanors. Ms. Leigh lived through the difficult and dehumanizing experience many of her clients have faced. The Atlanta court system, like most in the country, was completely overrun due to years of failed mass incarceration policies. This backlog led to significant delays in getting her day in court to tell her side of the story. She faced a difficult and indifferent district attorney as well as a court system that treats folks more like a number than a human being.
Because of backlogs in the court system, her case remained pending well beyond her law school graduation date. Even after passing the Bar exam after months of study, the Maryland State Bar would not swear her in as attorney until her case resolved. Her own Atlanta criminal defense attorney whom she grew to respect and admire advised her to plead no contest to a municipal ordinance violation in exchange for dropping the criminal charges.
Like many clients she has served, she faced the difficult choice in wanting to fight for day in court or completing community service in exchange for only having a municipal violation on her record and finally getting sworn into the bar.
The experience facing the injustices in the criminal court system caused her to completely re-purpose her career.
She swore off her desire to work as a prosecutor and found a passion for protecting those who face the same injustices she saw first-hand. She learned from and her own criminal defense lawyer and she was accepted to do her community service at the Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office (“OPD”).
After completing the court-ordered community service, the OPD offered her a job as a public defender. They immediately recognized her fire and passion for protecting individual rights and zealously advocating for the accused. Attorney Leigh spent three years representing indigent defendants in Montgomery County District and Circuit Courts. She litigated over 1000 cases and learned how to fight for clients and get great results despite having a massive and overwhelming case load.
In 2015, she set out on her own to take the experience she got at the OPD and fight for individuals as a private attorney. During her time as a solo practitioner, she represented hundreds of people in Maryland and the District of Columbia for a variety of offenses ranging from DUI to violent felonies. She underwent the NHTSA sponsored DUI Detection and Administration of the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing training and obtained the same certification the DUI police officers receive. She believes in leaving no stone unturned to fight for her clients.
If you or a friend or loved one have been arrested or are under investigation for a criminal offense in the State of Maryland, contact Attorney Morgan E. Leigh today. She knows the system. She has experienced the system. And she will fight the system on your behalf!
